


Brace I and II

by thebasement_archivist



Category: The X-Files
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-08-15
Updated: 2000-08-15
Packaged: 2018-11-20 11:43:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 27,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11334993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebasement_archivist/pseuds/thebasement_archivist
Summary: Scully is forced to watch as Mulder is brutally raped by a man he helped to imprison years ago. There is a VERY lengthy and graphic rape scene as well as explicit language throughout. DO NOT read if this kind of material offends you.





	Brace I and II

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Basement](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Basement), which moved to the AO3 to ensure the stories are always available and so that authors may have complete control of their own works. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Basement's collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thebasement/profile).

 

Brace by Tess

BRACE by Tess  
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me, I just like to make them suffer.  
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: M/Sk, Mulder/Other, Slash, Rape, M/Sc Angst  
Author's Note: Skinner appears only in Part Two  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback:   
Archive: Feel free to archive anywhere  
Disclaimer: They don't belong to be; I just like to make them suffer.  
Summary/Warning: Scully is forced to watch as Mulder is brutally raped by a man he helped to imprison years ago. There is a VERY lengthy and graphic rape scene as well as explicit language throughout. DO NOT read if this kind of material offends you.   
Note: I'm English so all the spellings are UK ones! 

* * *

When Mulder arrived at Scully's apartment the door was slightly ajar. He tapped on it lightly a couple of times but when there was no immediate reply he just assumed she'd unlatched the door for him, so he walked straight in. As he turned to close the door there was a flurry of calculated movement behind him, but before he could react there was a dull thud as something hit the back of his head hard. Silently his legs folded beneath him and he crumpled heavily to the floor. As he lay unconscious he felt nothing as his assailant dragged him across the carpet into Scully's bedroom, was unaware as his leather jacket, jeans and T-shirt were skilfully stripped off and he was hauled onto the bed. The intruder grunted as he heaved Mulder's naked body into position, spread-eagled on his stomach, arms and legs stretched out like the points of a star. He quickly tethered Mulder's wrists and ankles to the bedposts using a combination of leather cuffs, which he buckled tightly, and various lengths of chain, which he drew out of a red holdall at the side of the bed. He whistled cheerfully as he worked, warm after the physical effort of positioning the taller man on the bed. 

The intruder raked his fingers through his short greying hair and stood back to admire his work with satisfaction. 'So far, so good,' he murmured to himself. He then knelt on the bed beside Mulder's head. 'Hey Fox,' he said, blowing in Mulder's ear whilst at the same time lightly slapping his face. 'Hey man, c'mon, wake up. I've gotta surprise for ya.'

When the slaps became hard enough to hurt, Mulder stirred then groaned, and his eyelids fluttered. After more enthusiastic encouragement from his captor, he eventually opened his eyes to see a blurred yet familiar face floating hazily into focus, a face that grinned insanely into his own. Mulder blinked several times in an attempt to clear his vision, then stared in disbelief at the steely-haired man before him. 'Brace?' he questioned groggily, his voice sounding thick and hoarse.

'Yep!' The intruder sat back on his heels, smiling happily, pleased that Mulder had recognised him immediately. 'It's me all right! Pleased to see me?'

With his senses shocked into action, Mulder suddenly panicked. He tried to jerk himself up off the bed but alarmingly found his wrists and ankles chained to the heavy wooden bedposts, making it impossible for him to do much more than push himself up onto his hands and knees. He wrenched at the tight cuffs angrily, making the chains rattle and clank, a sudden fear making his heart thud under his breastbone as he realised he was naked. 'Let me go, you fucking son of a bitch, let me go,' he yelled. 'Where's Scully? If you've hurt her, I'll kill you, I fucking swear it.'

Brace stood up and watched confidently as his captive struggled against the snug bonds, clapping his hands in glee as Mulder's desperate efforts to free himself failed miserably. When Mulder at last realised he was caught fast he began to shout out loudly in panic, throwing wild looks around the room. 'Help, please, somebody help me.' 

Instantly, Brace was on the bed and slamming his knee down hard on Mulder's back. His bony fingers splayed in Mulder's dark hair, pushing the FBI agent's face forcefully down into the pillow, the delighted smile now wiped from his face and redrawn as an angry snarl. Mulder struggled wildly; repeatedly bucking upward, frantically straining like a wild dog against the powerful assailant who pinned him to the surface of the bed. He fought hard, thrashing his lean body from side to side, thrusting his head back fiercely against the brutal grip on his skull, desperately trying to dislodge the fingers digging into his scalp, but gradually, without the benefit of oxygen, his efforts began to weaken. Unable to breathe with the pillow mashed hard against his nose and mouth, Mulder felt himself blacking out and to Brace's satisfaction, his struggling eventually ceased. Brace then grasped Mulder's hair and yanked his head roughly up from the pillow, allowing him to gulp in the oxygen he desperately needed. He gasped air in noisily, his lungs snatching the gift, aware for the moment only of his need to breathe and the painful thudding of his heart. The blood pounded in his ears and dark spots continued to cloud his vision, but before he had chance to recover either his breath or his scattered thoughts, he heard the familiar click of the safety catch on his own weapon being disengaged. He flinched as cold metal was pressed against his neck.

'Don't think I won't use this Agent Mulder,' Brace's harsh voice hissed in his ear. 'I'd rather you be a live fuck, but I really don't mind fucking a corpse. You do know that, don't you? You knew me well enough to put me away all those years ago and I'm sure your memory is just as good now as it ever was.'

Mulder's heart gave a sickening lurch as Brace's words penetrated his fog. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and shook his head a little, trying to dislodge the pictures that now came unbidden to his oxygen-starved mind, pictures of Brace's many victims. All of them had been young men in their twenties, some of whom, Mulder now recalled, had been brutally raped by Brace then murdered. Others, however, he'd murdered then raped. With these grotesque pictures forming an obscene gallery in his mind, Mulder tried to breathe deeply to dispel his rising panic. He tried to slow his frantic gulping, inhaling through his nose and out through his mouth, eyes closed, concentrating on the air that inflated his lungs, then pushing it out slowly, one breath at a time. In, out. In, out. Slowly. Slowly.

Brace studied him closely, his bright eyes greedily feasting on Mulder's fear. He carefully removed his knee from Mulder's back but kept the gun barrel tightly pressed against his neck.

'Okay, Fox, easy does it now fella. I don't wanna have to hurt ya, so you have to behave yourself. No more shouting out, no more fighting, okay? Otherwise you'll only have yourself to blame.' He waited. When Mulder didn't respond Brace lifted the gun and whacked it swiftly against the side of Mulder's head. Mulder cried out in surprise, the stinging blow bringing tears to his eyes and bright stars dancing across his line of vision. 'I said OKAY?' Brace repeated, hissing insistently in his ear through gritted teeth.

'Yes, all right, okay,' Mulder snapped back, both angry and fearful. He almost added, 'I thought you weren't going to hurt me,' but he felt it would sound childish and petulant, and might possibly provoke further punishment. His ears were ringing and his temple throbbed. Already a bruise was starting to form there, spreading slowly like purple ink. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and swallowed hard, willing the wave of nausea washing over him to subside. Mentally shelving the images of Brace's abused and battered victims he decided to take the direct approach. "Where's Scully?" he demanded. He'd wanted his voice to be steady and authoritative, but there was a whine to it he hadn't intended and disliked intensely. He suddenly realised he was afraid to hear the reply.

'The redhead? Ha! Never mind her! It's you I want.' Brace shifted his position slightly and Mulder felt the gun dig uncomfortably into his neck.

'Why? Where is she?' When his question was met with stony silence he asked in a smaller voice, 'What do you want with me?' Again he tried to make his voice clear, calm and confident, but again he failed. His worst fears were realised when he heard Brace laugh mirthlessly, a sound which send a cold prickle of fear sliding along the length of his spine.

'Why, I'm gonna fuck you of course!'

Mulder swallowed hard. Again he remembered the photographs he'd studied whilst working Brace's case all those years ago, remembered the young men who had been beaten, stabbed, shot, or strangled. Each one had died violently at Brace's hand but all had been brutally raped, with most having been subjected to various forms of torture before their painful deaths. A fierce knot of fear tightened in the pit of Mulder's stomach and he felt a sudden urge to urinate.

'Brace, you don't have to do this,' he said, the panic now clearly evident in his voice. He knew he shouldn't be whining and pleading with his captor like this, but in his current position, bound, naked and extremely vulnerable, it was difficult to even remember the protocol in these situations let alone act upon it. Inside his head the thoughts flew in frightened circles. 'Please Brace,' he continued. 'Untie me, you can leave here, I won't follow you, I swear.'

Brace grinned, revealing the blackened stubs of his front teeth. 'No way, Mulder,' he laughed. 'You thought you were so damned clever writing that stuff about me, getting inside my head. You fucked me over so bad, man. Now it's your turn.'

'No, Brace, you're wrong,' Mulder replied, still trying his best to maintain a steady tone, though the whine was still there. 'I was just doing my job.'

Brace exploded, suddenly incensed. 'Your job! Your fucking job! You and your fucking job got me locked up, denied me my pleasures in life. Now I'm gonna show you what it's all about. Show you what I was missing.'

Mulder closed his eyes tightly, holding down another wave of nausea, his mind spinning, recoiling from the horror of Brace's words.

'Just one thing though before we start,' Brace was saying. He left the room briefly. While he was gone Mulder wrenched fiercely at the chains, frantically trying to free himself. But it didn't take him long to realise it was useless - he was trapped. '.....Yeah,' Brace panted as he kicked the door to the bedroom open. 'Wanted to spice things up a little, so here she is, Mulder. Your little girlfriend.'

Mulder twisted his head, straining to see what was happening behind him. The sight that met his eyes caused an overwhelming feeling of helpless rage to sweep over him as he witnessed Brace huffing and panting with the effort of dragging Scully through the door. She too was bound, although her attacker had gagged her, and her angry, frightened protests were muffled. Mulder's only comfort was that she was fully dressed and apparently unharmed.

'Brace,' he warned. 'I swear, if you touch her...'

'Touch her!' Brace let out a sneering laugh as he unceremoniously dumped Scully into her wicker bedroom chair and set about strapping her to it with devices similar to those he'd used to secure Mulder. 'C'mon Mulder, boy,' he laughed. 'You know ladies ain't my thing. She's just here to make it a little more fun for us both, aintcha girlie?' 

Scully flinched away from his touch as he reached out a hand to pat her cheek, then stared in horror at the sight laid out before her. Mulder stretched naked and bound on her bed, his legs forced into an open position by the short lengths of chain secured by leather cuffs to his ankles. Brace followed her gaze, taking in Mulder's muscular limbs, the sweeping curve of his delicious ass, the smooth unblemished skin, then turned back to her. He thrust his hips forward in a gesture which, when accompanied by the way he was suggestively licking his lips, made his intentions perfectly obvious. 

Scully had never felt so helpless. She furtively tested her bonds but they were so tightly fastened she knew there was no way that she could ever release herself. The ball gag stuffed into her mouth and buckled tightly behind her head had begun to make her jaw ache, although looking at Mulder's frightened expression she decided she was the better off of the two. 

Brace threw Scully a scornful look then, satisfied she was secure, picked up Mulder's gun from the edge of the bed and pressed it hard against Mulder's left temple. 'Now, no shouting out, Mulder boy,' he warned, 'or the lady gets the bullet. You just be a good little Fox and everything's gonna be okay, I promise you. But I'm warning you. I don't wanna have to shoot you before I fuck you, but I will if I have to. Give me any trouble and the lady gets it first, then you. I mean it Mulder."

'Brace, for God's sake, please,' Mulder pleaded. 'Don't hurt her."

'Maybe I could shoot you first and make her watch me fuck your corpse...?'

'Brace, you son of a bitch...'

Brace grinned at Mulder's brave words, then reached forward and patted him on the head. 'Easy now Mulder,' he soothed. 'It's all up to you whether or not she gets hurt. You just be a good little boy and neither of you will get hurt. Don't y'all fight me now, and I promise ya, everything's gonna be ok. Just relax and enjoy what's coming.'

'Like fuck I will.'

'Don't push me Mulder. I mean what I say. Wanna see that cute little redhead of yours bleeding to death on the carpet? No? Of course you don't. No more than she wants to see you bleeding to death on her bed. That's why you're both gonna do exactly what I want you to do. And what I want you to do right now is to get up on your hands and knees.' Mulder at first failed to fully comprehend the implications of the instruction, but even when the realisation of Brace's immediate intentions dawned on him, he found himself unable to move. Seeing that his captive had made no effort to obey his order whatsoever, Brace suddenly roared angrily, 'GET UP ON YOUR FUCKING KNEES, MULDER.'

With a sinking spirit Mulder realised he had no choice but to believe the threats made against himself and Scully. As he slowly pushed himself up into a kneeling position his heart began to race and as he heard a zipper going down, the bitter, watery taste of fear was in his throat. Next came the soft shuffle of Brace's pants slipping to the floor, then the bedsprings dipped as Brace, now completely naked, clambered onto the bed behind him. Mulder's muscles suddenly tensed and the knot in his stomach tightened unbearably, cold sweat prickling his bare flesh.

'Okay, Mulder,' came Brace's breathy voice. 'I'm getting ready for ya baby. You ready for me?' 

There was a squelching sound and Mulder resisted the urge to peer round, to strain his neck in an attempt to see what Brace was doing. He believed his best guess to be bad enough, without actually seeing. His fears were confirmed when he felt the cheeks of his ass being prised apart and then a finger, slippery with cold lubricant, being pressed against his anus. Mulder bit his lips hard to keep himself from crying out in disgust. He wanted to shout, to yell, to tell the dirty motherfucker to keep his Goddamn filthy pervert hands to himself. But for Scully's sake he didn't. He breathed deeply through his nose, willing himself to relax, trying to blank out the bed beneath him, the room, the tightness of the cuffs around his wrists and ankles, but most of all the sensation of Brace's finger penetrating his asshole. He held his breath, fighting the rising tide of nausea, aware that his whole body was painfully tensed but finding it impossible to relax. As the finger probed him, sliding deep inside his rectum he could contain himself no longer.

'No, please,' he blurted out, 'Brace, for God's sake, no, don't!' He twisted away, clenching his butt muscles tightly together, trying to squirm his ass away from the invading, probing finger. An orange sunburst of light suddenly obliterated his vision as Brace's fist came down hard on the back of his skull, then everything greyed. He felt himself sinking into merciful darkness, welcoming it, embracing it, sinking down into the velvety depths of unconsciousness.

But all too soon the harsh lights of reality were rushing back to meet him. It had been only a brief moment of escape and he was still here, in Scully's bedroom, tied to her bed, his legs still spread. With difficulty he twisted his neck to check on Scully. With deep dismay he realised his protest had caused Brace to deal her a blow whilst he'd lain in a daze. There was now a red mark on the right side of her face and a thin line of blood trickled from her left nostril. Worse than that, Brace now stood over her, the barrel of Mulder's service weapon pressed hard against her right temple, his finger curled tightly around the trigger.

Mulder cautiously absorbed the terrible sight of his partner's pain and fear; saw the terror in her eyes that now shone with bright tears. 'I'm sorry Scully,' his eyes were saying as she met his beseeching gaze. She bravely tried to send back the message that it was okay, whatever he did she would understand; she wouldn't blame him for anything. Brace tightened his grip on the pistol's trigger, and now that he was sure Mulder was conscious and fully aware he spoke in a menacing tone.

'Okay, Mulder, it's your call. You can play ball with me or you both get your brains splattered. Either way I get to fuck you, so don't think I care.' He stared with cold, cruel blue eyes into Mulder's scared hazel ones. 'So which is it?' he sneered threateningly. 'Shall I kill her now or what?'

Mulder shook his head, a strangled, 'No,' escaping from his throat, suddenly crushed by a sense of his own helpless vulnerability, and his overwhelming fear for them both.

'Okay, so you're gonna be a good little boy and make it nice for Daddy, right Foxy? 'Cos Daddy wants you to play nice, baby.' There was a slight pause, then after a nervous glance at Scully, Mulder nodded with an almost imperceptible movement of his head. A single tear escaped form the corner of his left eye, sliding slowly down his cheek, and Brace watched its journey with a satisfied smile etched onto his full-lipped mouth. He then released his pincer grip on Scully's shoulder and moved eagerly back towards the bed. He reached out, lightly trailing his fingers over Mulder's tense body, across his smooth shoulders, sweeping down the curve of his back to his buttocks, where he began to knead the flesh there between his fingers and thumb. 'Ohhh,' he sighed, leaning over Mulder's lean frame, drinking in the musky aroma of his captive's scared sweat. 'Your skin is so sweet Fox, so baby soft.' He continued caressing Mulder's body, delighting in the sharp definition of the tensed muscles. 'Hey relax, Mulder, enjoy! This is going to be fun, I promise.' Sliding his fingers down the crack of Mulder's ass as he spoke, he once again found the tight anus and resumed his probing, inserting first one, then two fingers deep inside the hot rectum, his face a mask of ecstasy as he squirmed his slimy fingers in and out.

'Oww, that hurts,' Mulder whined. 'Brace, stop, please. Aahh, stop it.'

Mulder turned to Scully, his eyes pain-filled as he looked into her scared, yet sympathetic expression. She felt despair wash over her, and as she met Mulder's eyes she was overwhelmed by the tortured humiliation she witnessed there. He held her gaze briefly but let his eyes slide away from her face after a few seconds. Her heart contracted painfully as she saw his skin suddenly grow hot, the sudden rush of blood signifying his sense of total humiliation and marring his handsome features. She too averted her eyes, wanting to spare him the humiliation of knowing she was witnessing every detail of his assault. Within seconds, however, her eyes reluctantly dragged themselves back to the two naked men on the bed before her. With a sense of mounting horror and yet at the same time morbidly fascinated, she watched as Brace pulled his sticky fingers out of Mulder's ass. As soon as he did so, Mulder slumped forward, burying his face in the white cotton pillowcase, trying desperately not to cry. Behind him on the bed Brace began to apply more lubricant from the tube to his thick erect shaft, skilfully coating it from hairy root to swollen tip, obviously wanting to ensure his entry was a smooth and comfortable one. When Brace had fully prepared himself he spoke in a voice husky with lust for the naked FBI agent on the bed. 

'Okay Mulder, back up on your knees for me baby. Come on now.'

Mulder swallowed hard and shook his head, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. 'I can't,' he mumbled, more to himself than to Brace, his voice saturated with misery. 'I can't. I can't do it.'

'Sure you can, come on now, up you go.'

Mulder recoiled as he felt Brace's greasy hands sliding over his butt then under his hips, and he cowered as Brace angrily repeated his order. 'Get up, Mulder, or I'll kill that red-headed bitch, I swear.' Slowly, very reluctantly, Mulder pushed himself back up onto his hands and knees. He tried once more to concentrate on his breathing. In, out. In, out. Brace watched him, a lustful grin on his face. 'Spread your legs,' he commanded.

Mulder couldn't help risking a glance at Scully. He could see the horror etched on her face, and knew instinctively that she was blaming herself for what was about to happen. 'It's okay,' he mouthed, wanting to reassure her, but the lie provided no comfort to either Scully or himself. He felt like he was going to vomit. His head whirled dizzily, and his stomach churned with dread and fear. He heard Brace's harsh voice snarl again.

'I said spread 'em.'

Gritting his teeth, Mulder shuffled his knees apart, then grimaced when he felt the bedsprings dip once again as Brace approached him from the rear. Scully began to pray inside her head as she gazed in horror at Brace's erection which stuck out from his dark triangle of pubic hair, a huge bobbing pole of solid flesh with prominent veins and the foreskin peeled back to reveal a large bulbous head. Mulder shuddered as he felt Brace pushing and prodding behind him, feeling his thighs trembling as once more Brace's thumbs spread his cheeks and he again had to fight the urge to vomit. Despite the heat in the room he shivered as he felt the head of Brace's cock brush against him, its hot slippery tip being expertly positioned prior to penetration. He felt the heat of Brace's swollen penis pressing hard against his anus, then his attacker bore down on him, slowly at first, but with a growing force and urgency. Mulder felt an unbearable pressure and intense burning as his anus was stretched wide and forced to accommodate the moist fleshy heat of the invading penis. With his eyes tightly squeezed shut and his fists clenched, he moaned to himself then repeatedly began to whisper a hushed mantra of self-denial, 'Please no, oh no, oh God no.' The burning sensation suddenly gave way to an intense searing agony as Brace's thick head penetrated him, and he let out a strangled sob. 

Brace was grunting loudly, his ugly features twisted with pleasure as his swollen cock slowly forced its way into the slippery heat of Mulder's rectum. 'Mmmm, yeah,' he moaned. 'So good, Mulder, so fucking tight.'

Mulder couldn't believe how huge Brace's cock felt as it pushed into him, opening him up. 'No, please,' he cried, 'please stop. Uhhh, I can't take it, I can't.' He began to sob, a terrible sound bringing Scully's anguished heart into her throat, making it a ragged lump that threatened to choke her. She watched Mulder's shoulders shaking as he wept, her expression a mask of sorrow and helplessness. She so much wanted to halt his torture, to kill the bastard who was inflicting it, and then to take Mulder in her arms, hold him close and whisper soft words of comfort in his ear. Instead she stared in horror at the sickening sight of Brace's huge, glistening penis disappearing up into Mulder's rectum as he slowly penetrated her partner.

'Uhh, it hurts,' Mulder cried out, trying to twist himself away from the painful intrusion, despite Brace's warnings about what might happen if he resisted. 'You're hurting me. Stop, please. Ohh, fuck, that hurts.' 

Brace ignored him and continued applying the pressure, grabbing hold of the Mulder's hips, planting his own knees firmly on the surface of the bed and leaning back for extra leverage. 

Eventually Mulder's tearful complaining began to irritate Brace. 'Shut the fuck up,' he snarled, leaning forward and delivering a fisted blow to Mulder's right kidney. 'Either keep quiet or the bitch gets it.'

Mulder cried out in pain then bit down hard on his lower lip, focusing his mind on the pain in his back where Brace had struck him, trying to deflect his mind away from the pain he was experiencing in his backside. Still choking back his tears he summoned all his strength and forced himself to breathe slowly and deeply. That did help to calm him a little but there was nothing he could do to rid his body, or his mind, of the painful sensation of Brace's stiff hot penis advancing mercilessly up into his bowels.

Scully watched reluctantly, anxiously scrutinising Mulder, wishing desperately there was something she could do to stop this outrageous assault on her partner. She raked her eyes up and down his body, noting everything from the sweat that soaked his hair at the nape of his neck to the angry red marks on the skin of his wrists and ankles caused by the chafing of the tight leather cuffs. After the tortuous sound of his loud sobbing, his silence almost seemed worse. He now knelt steadfastly on the bed with his elbows and knees locked in position and thighs splayed. Only his ribcage moved as he panted softly, trying to ease the pain by controlling his breathing. She believed he now knew there was no escape, knew that however painful, however degrading this assault, his obedient compliance provided the best chance of survival for both of them. Her heart suddenly lurched painfully as she realised with gratitude and deep felt pity that for both their sakes, Mulder now seemed resigned to his fate. 

Scully swallowed with difficulty, blinking back the bright tears which threatened to spill down her cheeks. She winced when Mulder yelped in pain as Brace pushed relentlessly forward. He ground forcefully into the FBI agent, burying his erection deeper and deeper, sighing with pleasure on feeling the soft fleshy mounds of Mulder's buttocks pressing tantalisingly against his balls.

'Oh, Mulder, Mulder baby,' he moaned ecstatically as he felt his cock being sucked in by Mulder's tight virginal passage. 'Oh you're so hot, so tight.'

Mulder's face was now hot and slick, his hair darkened by sweat and plastered to his forehead. His eyes were tightly scrunched and he chewed fiercely on his lower lip, quiet now, apart from the tiny whimpers that he tried to catch in the back of his throat. During the initial onslaught he'd bitten his lip so hard he now tasted the bitter, metallic flavour of his own blood in his mouth. His ass was on fire, burning, burning, as Brace, his cock now gripped by the hot walls Mulder's rectum, began to rock his hips backwards and forwards, easing deeper and deeper with each inward thrust. Mulder moaned in pain, a deep guttural moan, which Brace mistook for pleasure.

'Oh yeah,' he responded, thrusting a little harder now, striking up a steady rhythm. 'Oh Mulder, you're so good to fuck.' His hands were on Mulder's hips, eagerly pulling the younger man back onto his cock with each forward thrust. The full length of his hard thick cock was now sliding deep into Mulder's ass, his balls mashing against Mulder's taut flesh each time he thrust home. 'Feels - good - doesn't - it - boy?' Brace grunted, punctuating each word with a hard thrust and angling his cock for maximum penetration.

Scully also closed her eyes, wanting to block out the sight of her partner's violation, of Brace's gratified expression as he sank his cock deeply over and over again into Mulder's rectum. She only wished she could block out the sounds too: the squelch each time Brace's cock plunged into Mulder's asshole; the slap slap of his fleshy thighs hitting Mulder's; the obscene animalistic grunts which he made with each inward stroke. But most of all, she wished she could block out the low muffled sound, barely audible beneath Brace's heaving and grunting, of her partner, Fox Mulder, whimpering to himself in pain.

Mulder had tried in vain to detach himself from what was happening, to shut down his conscious mind, but found there was no way he could escape from the sensation of having his ass rammed full of another man's cock, of having it thrust into, filled over and over again, of feeling his rectal muscles tightly clamped around another man's thrusting penis, feeling it pounding into him, fucking him. He tried again to breathe deeply and slowly, attempting to calm his rising panic and relax his knotted muscles. Maybe, he thought, if he could just relax his muscles a little it might not hurt so much.

Brace was now sweating profusely, but oh, he was enjoying this. He'd always gone for younger men: most of his twelve victims had been in their early twenties, some barely out of their teens, but for an older guy, God, Mulder's velvety ass was sweet. He thrust into it repeatedly with fierce fast thrusts, slamming into it as hard as he could, enjoying the violence of his fucking, his total control over the man who'd blighted his life and stolen his pleasure. Then, feeling his orgasm building more quickly than he'd expected, he eased off a little, wanting to prolong the intense pleasure of this long-awaited fuck. He sank his cock in deeply, groaning with pleasure as his balls squashed up against Mulder's ass. He then began pulling his cock back several inches ever so slowly before slamming it back in hard, repeating the action over and over again. 

'How does it feel to have my dick in your ass, Mulder?' Brace panted, smoothing his right hand over the taut skin of his victim's buttocks. 'You like the way I fuck you? Do you, baby? I sure like to fuck you. Your ass is like liquid fire, squeezing my cock.' He again withdrew from Mulder's rectum slowly until just the tip of his cock still nestled inside the delicious slick warmth, then he rammed himself back in, his body slamming so hard against the man beneath him that Mulder almost lost his balance.

After a few minutes of this Mulder was absolutely horrified to feel that during the long slow outward pull he began to anticipate the hard inward thrust that followed with something almost akin to pleasure. Although his mind was repulsed and immediately rejected the idea, he nevertheless found himself becoming more and more aroused. There was now relatively little pain, and another sensation was beginning to dominate instead: that of his own cock beginning to harden. He suddenly cried out involuntarily as Brace's thrusting cock hit his prostrate gland one, two, three times, and Brace, sensing a change in Mulder's responses, pressed his fingers under Mulder's hips, lifting the younger man's ass up, tilting his pelvis and angling it to meet his own eager thrusting, wanting to stroke the man's prostrate again and again and make him cry out like that some more. 

'Oh Fox,' he crowed, 'it's so good, so fucking good. You're feeling it too, I know you are.'

As if in reply, Mulder let out another low moan, although this time not in pain. Despite himself, despite his rage and humiliation, the huge cock thrusting in and out of his ass had begun to feel very different. He couldn't help himself, couldn't stop himself from feeling an intense, excited pleasure, and he instinctively started trying to push his ass back to meet Brace's zealous ramming, effectively opening himself up to meet the other man's invasive thrusts. Vaguely in his mind there hung the realisation that Scully was there, she was watching him, his rape, his degradation, and yet he was now starting to enjoy it.

'No, no, not enjoy. I could never enjoy this,' his anguished mind protested, but as Brace's cock slammed into him once more, he was shamefully aware that from her position at the side of the bed Scully would have been able to see how his cock had begun to swell and harden. His heart sank: God only knew what she would think of him. He glanced down at himself, shocked, disgusted, but also perversely excited to see his penis now fully erect, its swollen length smacking up against his belly as Brace's thrusting rocked him back and forth. The conflicting emotions raged within his tortured mind: he wasn't really enjoying it, was he? How could he? He was being raped. A man, a criminal, a sex offender and murderer was fucking him, fucking his ass hard and fast and deep. RAPING him.

But somewhere in all that horror and humiliation there was definitely pleasure. Mulder felt an irresistible urge to touch his own cock, to reach down and squeeze and stroke it, to slide his fist up and down its length and quickly provide a release for the tension that now ached painfully in his engorged penis and swollen testicles. He tugged helplessly on the bonds which tightly secured his wrists to the bedposts, feeling the cool air gently caressing the swollen head of his bloated cock as each pounding thrust from Brace slammed into his body. No, there was definitely no pain now, and each stabbing thrust, each time Brace's cock slid hard and deep, each time it hit his prostrate, he only felt intense physical pleasure.

Scully was fully aware of the way in which Mulder was now responding to Brace's assault and she couldn't help staring at Mulder's erection, which was now clearly visible from where she sat. It was long, thick and flushed a dark red, and it swayed and bobbed beneath him as each new thrust rocked his body. She could hear his soft cries and though tears still streaked his face, she instinctively knew that his low moans no longer signified pain. Part of her was glad that her partner no longer seemed to be suffering such intense physical pain, but the other part wondered how likely it was that Mulder would be able to recover mentally from this ordeal. She knew that biologically a man could become aroused simply by the physical stimulus of his anus, rectum and prostrate gland and derive sexual gratification from it, even under duress, and it was well documented that male rape victims sometimes reached orgasm during their assaults. She also knew that victims often ending up believing that they had possibly secretly desired, even encouraged, the rape because of the way they'd responded to the physical stimulation during their attack, even though mentally they had been utterly disgusted and humiliated by what had happened. She knew that Mulder knew that too, but her fear now lay in the fact that there was a world of difference between simply knowing about someone else's ordeal and actually living through one yourself.

As Brace grew closer to orgasm he began to pant. His grunts became louder, although they were now matched by Mulder's own moans, and he bent over his captive, pressing his weight down onto the younger man's back, rocking against him, thrusting deeply into him, loving the slick heat of Mulder's delicious tight hole gripping his cock.

'Mulder,' he panted, 'your ass is so hot, man, so fucking hot. I'm gonna come soon, baby, how 'bout you?' Mulder only grunted loudly as Brace's cock slammed back into him. His elbows seemed to give way and he dropped down onto his forearms, leaning his head forward and resting it on the backs of his hands. Scully saw his fingers curl, gripping the rumpled sheets beneath his hands, his knuckles white. Brace reached his arms around Mulder's waist, hugging him tightly, humping against him, into him, pumping vigorously. Suddenly he was feeling frantically for Mulder's cock, and finding its swollen length he took it into his sweaty fist and began to pump it with his hand in steady time and rhythm with his own thrusting. He felt his climax building, building, building, then cried out as he began to come, his semen spurting up Mulder's slick passage and deep into his bowels. His ecstatic groans were loud but didn't mask Mulder's own cry of, 'Uh, uh, uh, uhhhh, God,' as his own semen suddenly spurted from his swollen cock, spraying onto Scully's bed. Brace still clung to Mulder, his arms wrapped tightly around him, embracing him in a vice-like grip, revelling in the sensation created by the rhythmic muscular contractions of Mulder's orgasm on his cock. He continued to pump in Mulder's ass, ensuring that the sucking pull of the slick passage milked him of every last drop. Eventually he eased off and both men slumped down panting, Brace's body lying heavily on Mulder's, the sweat slick between them. Brace lay there panting, and then turned to Scully with a face-splitting grin. She reluctantly locked eyes with him, hers seething with hatred for what he'd done to her partner; his swimming with pure, unadulterated pleasure.

'You're just jealous, bitch!' he suddenly spat at her, reading the venom she directed at him in her furrowed brow and darkened eyes. 'Did you see him shoot his load, Red? Did you see him? When I was shooting up his ass, he was shooting in mid-air. So fucking cool!' He loosened his bear hug on Mulder and pushed himself up onto his hands. 'Mulder, you wanna know something, man?' he crowed as he withdrew his softening penis from Mulder's anus and heaved himself up and off the bed. 'After all these years I'd forgotten what a virgin ass could feel like. Yours was sweet, man. A real tight fuck.' He threw a triumphant look at Scully before turning back to Mulder. 'You are such a hot fuck, Mulder, and your little bitch is so jealous! 

There was no reply from Mulder. His shoulders juddered he suddenly began to sob into the bedspread, suddenly and totally shocked by his response to Brace's assault. Now that the physical stimulation had ended his rational mind took over, and with it came an intense burning shame. He was so ashamed, his humiliation so complete. He'd been raped, had his ass fucked, and he'd enjoyed it! He must have done. He'd come hadn't he? His own sticky mess beneath him confirmed it. The intense pleasure he'd felt as Brace's cock pounded in and out of his ass, fucking him harder and harder, had betrayed him. His ass had been fucked and he'd been erect, his own cock hard and stiff. He'd sprayed Scully's bed with his own semen as a murderer's semen had spurted up his ass. Suddenly he tasted a bitter, sour flavour as vomit rose in his throat. He was disgusted with himself. What had happened to him, the pleasure he'd felt whilst it was being done to him, had been degrading and disgusting. *He* was disgusting. Sickened by the sensation of Brace's semen oozing from his battered anus, even more so by the warm stickiness of his own sperm coating his belly, Mulder continued to weep, a desolate, heart-rending choking sound that ripped from his throat and shredded Scully's heart.

Brace stared at the sobbing man on the bed, his eyes heavy-lidded, a cruel smile playing at the corners of his lips. He took great pleasure in noting Mulder's dilated anus was still oozing a sticky mixture of lubricant, semen and a little blood. 'I must've cut ya, Fox,' he grinned. 'Sorry about that.' Might make you a little sore the next time.' He sniggered to himself as he left the room. 

Less than a minute later, Scully could hear him crashing about in her kitchen, opening and shutting cupboards and cursing as he examined the contents of her refrigerator. If only she didn't have this stupid gag in her mouth! She so wished to speak to Mulder, to say something, anything, to ease his mental pain, if not the physical. But it was no use. The gag was tight, her mouth stretched around the hard ball. Again she tested her bonds, knowing that it was useless. Mulder had ceased crying and now he didn't move, didn't make a sound, only lay absolutely still and silent. Scully breathed in the horrified silence, her heart pounding, her nostrils flaring at the hot stink of sex and sweat in the room. 

Suddenly Brace kicked the door open again and bounded into the room. 'That's better!' he grinned enthusiastically. 'Fed and watered and raring to go.' He approached Mulder and, grabbing a handful of his hair, pulled his head up sharply. Mulder winced but kept his eyes averted. 'How ya doin' bud?' Brace enthused. 'Ready for some more?' A sudden muffled cry behind him made him turn round, his expression momentarily puzzled. Scully was straining against her cuffs, her mouth working around the ball gag stuffed between her teeth, her words distorted behind it.

'Hey Red, what's the matter?' Brace asked with mock concern. 'Got something to say?' He released Mulder's hair, carelessly allowing his head to fall back onto the pillow, then crossed quickly towards her. She flinched as his hands came down towards her face, but he reached behind her and deftly unbuckled the leather fastening behind her head. As the ball gag fell away, she gasped a little as the fresh air invigorated and also irritated her dry throat. She then spoke hoarsely, her voice hardly above a whisper, not her usual crisp, confident tone at all.

'Please,' she begged fervently, 'please don't hurt him anymore.'

'Don't hurt him!' The man suddenly guffawed, loudly and without humour. His dark eyes glittered dangerously. 'Don't you think he hurt me? Eh? All those years locked away, slammed up by a sly young Fox. Oh I won't hurt him, oh, no....' He crossed swiftly to Mulder who had turned anxiously to face the noise. 'I'll just smash his fucking face in,' he shouted, then punched Mulder viciously twice in the face. Mulder barely had time to react. The first blow brought a fountain of blood spraying from his nose, the second struck him squarely on the jaw, and was hard enough to knock him unconscious.

Brace stood back panting and grinning, nursing his bruised fingers, his knuckles spattered with Mulder's blood 'See what you made me do, you stupid bitch,' he spat at Scully. 'Is that what you wanted? Is it?' 

'No,' she cried back. 'Of course not!' It was Scully's turn to cry now. Her face crumpled and the tears overflowed and coursed down her cheeks. 'Please,' she begged again, her eyes now downcast to the floor, 'please, just stop hurting him.'

Brace's face suddenly split in two in a huge maniacal grin. 'Oh, I get it! That stuff that I said before, about you being his girlfriend. It was true, wasn't it? Ha!' He moved towards her and bent over her, stopping his nose just a few inches from hers. 'Well, don't you worry yourself none, pretty lady, 'cos I got this fella's number. Didn't you hear him when I was up his ass, fucking him good style? Didn't you hear him a-sighing and a-moaning? He loved it, lady, he fucking loved it. Bet he never comes like that when you fuck him!'

Scully just didn't know what to say, so she said nothing. She didn't want to risk Brace's temper again. There was no knowing what he might do.

'Now,' Brace was saying. He was huffing as he bent over, busy retrieving something from under the bed. 'You be a good girl and I'll leave that horrible old gag off, okay? But if you start yelling some, I'll maybe get so angry I'll shoot your boyfriend's head right off. I mean it, little sister. You gonna be good for me now?'

Scully knew she had no choice. She nodded miserably and watched as Brace pulled several lengths of metal chain from a holdall beneath her bed. He unbuckled Mulder's cuffs and rolled the unconscious man over onto his back, then refastened the leather straps and chains, ignoring the angry blistered skin around Mulder's wrists and ankles. He added additional straps to Mulder's knees, fastening them with metal rods to the wrist straps. When he was finished Mulder's knees were drawn up and his thighs spread wide, leaving his anus fully exposed and easily accessible.

Scully couldn't contain herself, despite the warnings about the gag. 'You're sick,' she said contemptuously. She glared at Brace, unable to conceal her opinions despite his warning about the gag. He nodded towards the gun, which still lay at the bottom of the bed.

'Don't test me, Red,' he warned. 'Just watch, and keep quiet.' He then examined the chains and cuffs, and when he was sure everything was secure, began yet again to slap Mulder's face, ignoring the blood that congealed beneath his nose and coated his chin. 'C'mon Mulder. I need you awake for this man. C'mon.' He looked annoyed when there was no response from Mulder, then shrugged and loped off into Scully's bathroom. She heard him running the faucet then he emerged with a tumbler full of water, which he threw violently into Mulder's face. Mulder was suddenly conscious, spluttering, shaking his head like a dog. Full awareness quickly returned and with it came first the misery of realising Brace was standing over him, and then pain in almost every part of his body. The muscles in his arms and legs ached, his face was throbbing, especially his nose, and there was a dull ache in his lower back where Brace's fist had struck his kidney. But worst of all there was a fiery pain burning in his ass. He fearfully looked up and was horrified to see Brace's grinning face floating there like a freaky Halloween mask. 

'Yo, Fox, my man! Welcome back. You ready to party?'

Without waiting for a reply he turned to Scully. 'Okay, little darlin', this is where you get to show me what you can do. He's your boyfriend, right?'

Scully stared at him warily as he once again approached her. To her surprise, he proceeded to unbuckle the cuffs that bound her wrists tightly together. He did this one-handed, the other held the gun, which he kept pointed in her face. When she was free he gave her a minute to rub her numb wrists and ankles.

'Okay,' he said, leering at her. 'Let's see you do what I did. Make the bastard come.'

'What?' Scully couldn't believe what she was hearing. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Mulder's expression suddenly change. His face was bruised and bloody but she could read the horror on is face.

'I want you to suck him dry, little sister. Go to it baby. I'm just gonna sit right over here and watch the show.' He reached out and pulled the wicker chair over to the head of the bed and sat down. The gun was now pointed right at Mulder's head and Scully saw his eyes flick nervously to the side before returning to rest on her own wide-eyed stare.

'I...I can't,' Scully stammered. She swallowed and looked steadily into Mulder's eyes. He gazed solemnly back at her. 'I mean, we don't...we haven't...' She looked Brace defiantly in the eye. 'We don't have that kind of a relationship,' she concluded.

Brace snorted. 'I don't give a fuck what sort of relationship you have,' he scoffed. I'm taking time out and I want to see you to suck him. So get sucking.'

'Please don't make us do this,' Scully pleaded earnestly. 'Please. You've got what you came for.' She gestured towards Mulder, who lay on the bed miserably with his legs spread wide apart, knowing that Scully would be able to see the semen he could still feel oozing from his anus. He squeezed his eyes tightly closed, shame once again causing his cheeks to flush when he saw her glance between his parted thighs. 'Mulder needs medical treatment,' she continued reasonably. 'He's bleeding, and he may have a concussion. I think he may need internal stitches too.'

Brace's response was to cock the gun and press it once more to Mulder's temple.

'Well, if the fun's over then I ain't got no choice, sister,' he commented. 'Gonna have to kill this fucker.' He tightened his finger on the trigger.

'NO!' Scully screamed out. 'Please.' Tears suddenly welled up in her eyes and began to run down her face. 'I'll do it,' she sobbed. 'I'll do it if you promise to let us go afterwards.'

Brace grinned his mirthless grin. 'Okay, deal, he said coldly. 'So get sucking.'

Scully scrubbed her hand over her eyes, wiping away the tears, and then she took a deep breath and approached the bottom of the bed. Very carefully and purposefully she knelt down between Mulder's open legs.

'Scully,' Mulder protested, his voice thick with emotion, tears shining brightly in the corners of his eyes. 'You don't have to do this, you.....'

'It's okay, Mulder,' she interrupted. 'Really, it's okay.' Her voice was tremulous but her expression was suddenly determined. 'You just relax, okay?' She tried to smile at him but her lips trembled, spoiling the effect.

'Aww, how sweet!' Brace interjected.

'Shut up,' Mulder yelled at him fiercely, struggling against the chains. 'Just shut up!'

Brace raised his fist menacingly. 'I'll fucking shut you up you fucking runt.'

'Please,' came Scully's voice, rather too loudly. 'Both of you, be quiet. Do you want me to do this or not?' They both turned to stare at Scully, her firm voice effectively silencing them both.

'Sure,' grinned Brace. 'Go ahead, sweetheart.' 

Mulder again tried to protest. 'Scully...' he began, but she placed her finger to her lips.

'Shh,' she whispered, again bravely trying to smile.

She then took another deep breath and reached deliberately for Mulder's limp cock, taking it firmly but gently into the palm of her hand. She caressed it carefully, feeling its weight and warmth, and then slowly she began to tease its head with her fingers, tracing tiny patterns with her nails over the surface of his skin. She heard Mulder gasp at her touch, and as his penis began to stiffen, she encircled its girth with her fingers and began to slide her hand slowly up and down the length of his shaft as it grew. Mulder couldn't help groaning, her tender touch so comforting after Brace's rough treatment. 'Sculleee...' he whispered, her name deep in his throat. She felt his cock continue to swell and harden beneath her probing fingers and, leaning forward, she suddenly pressed the tip of her tongue gently against his testicles and began to lick him there, her tongue moving in tiny wet circles.

'Oh God,' she heard him moan. 'Oh that's so good.' She heard a gasp from Brace's direction too, and glancing up at him was repulsed to see that he was now holding his own cock in his hand, stroking and tugging on it as he watched her tease Mulder's cock. Trying to push all thoughts of him out of her mind she watched Mulder instead. His eyes were closed and his head thrown back. He kept thrusting his hips upwards towards her, moaning deep in his throat, the pleasure seemingly almost too much for him to bear, and she was suddenly and fiercely glad she could do this for him. She knelt up and leant forward, parting her lips, lightly pressing them to the head of Mulder's bulging penis. Reaching out with her hands, caressing the silky hairs on his stomach and thighs, she then pushed downwards with her mouth, feeling the heat of his swollen cock as it passed over her lips.

Mulder couldn't believe how good it felt. He opened his eyes and looked down between his legs, amazed to see his cock slowly disappearing into the moist heat of Scully's mouth. He could feel her tongue swirling around, could feel her small hands gently sliding up and down his shaft and caressing his balls, stroking his stomach, his thighs and his ass. He couldn't help moaning, couldn't help thrusting his cock up against her soft moist lips.

Sensing his pleasure, she began to suck him, gently at first then gradually harder and harder. She sucked him into her throat, her lips pressed tightly around his thick shaft, then began to slide her mouth up and down whilst maintaining the pressure with sweeping strokes of her left hand. She slowly but steadily increased the speed and pressure, until her head was bobbing up and down faster and faster, her hand keeping time with the rhythm of her mouth. Mulder was moaning and groaning, pushing his hips up to meet the sucking pull of Scully's hot wet mouth, the chains rattling as he writhed from side to side. He began to pant loudly, and sensing he was very close, she increased the speed and the pressure still further, his cock now flashing in and out of her mouth, her other hand alternately cradling his balls and firmly stroking them upwards.

Brace watched intently, his eyes half-closed, thrilling to the sight before him, his hand tightly encircled around his own meaty cock as he tugged on its swollen end. He saw Mulder buck his hips up wildly, heard him frantically gasping, 'Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah' as his balls drew up tightly around the base of his cock and his semen began to flood in rhythmic spurts up into Scully's mouth. She felt the hot fluid hit her tongue and she gulped, swallowing it down, sucking it in, tasting its bittersweet saltiness as it slid down her throat.

With a roar Brace was on his feet and grabbing Scully by the shoulders. He violently wrenched her small form from between Mulder's thighs and threw her away against the wall, where she hit her head with a sickening thud and crumpled to the floor. Mulder's eyes flew open as Scully's warmth left him, horrified to see Brace standing and panting between his open legs. After a cursory glance at Scully to check she was out cold, Brace bent over Mulder, roughly pushing and shoving with his cock between the cheeks of his ass, frantic to find Mulder's opening once more, and before Mulder knew what was happening he felt a sharp jabbing pain suddenly pierce his backside. He tried to struggle but it was virtually impossible to move with Brace's weight pressed hard against his stomach and chest. He turned his face away, sickened by Brace's sour breath panting in his face, then cried out as the pain suddenly intensified when Brace's huge stiff penis fully penetrated his anus for the second time. As Brace rammed his cock hard into Mulder's weeping rectum, Mulder began to scream. Although his hole was still dilated and his stretched muscles this time offered little resistance, the tissues and membranes inside his rectum were swollen and inflamed, and the pain, an intense burning and biting, was suddenly unbearable. Brace slapped his hand over Mulder's mouth to stifle his screams as he drove deeply into him, feeling his victim's rectal muscles flexing involuntarily as they tried to expel the invader. Once again he was pumping vigorously into Mulder's juicy asshole, loving the tightness of the slick passage, enjoying the closeness of Mulder's taut flesh rubbing against his own.

This time Mulder was in absolute agony. He squirmed beneath his attacker, the heel of Brace's brutal hand still pressed hard on his mouth, his face screwed up in pain. As Brace drilled into him he cried out, his screams muffled against Brace's hand, tears streaking from his eyes. There was no sexual pleasure for him this time, no matter how hated and unwanted it had been previously. This attack was too violent, too brutal, the thrusts too deep and hard.

Eventually, thankfully, Mulder heard Brace begin to grunt in a way that he now knew meant his attacker was about to come. Brace was stabbing himself fiercely into Mulder's asshole, thrusting his hips violently, his iron hand still clamped brutally over Mulder's tender mouth. Mulder was still writhing, although weakly now, still fighting, trying in vain to resist the assault. Then, with three or four deep agonising thrusts, Brace delivered his semen into Mulder's bruised rectum, crying out in ecstasy and triumph, immersed totally in his sense of supreme power over his fellow man. Having spent his energy and his come, Brace then collapsed heavily onto Mulder, panting with the effort of his exertions.

Mulder lay frozen, afraid to move, terrified of what Brace had in store for them both next. He closed his eyes tightly, willing the sour stink of Brace's breath to disappear, fighting the nausea, overwhelmed by the biting pain in his rectum and his terrified fear for Scully. He winced as Brace's penis slithered out of his body, pulling miserably on his chains, wanting to draw his legs up, to pull his whole body up into a tight ball, to seek comfort for his tortured mind and battered body. Then once again, blessedly, he was groping his way in the velvety blackness as the light in Scully's bedroom faded away and he sank down and down into the welcoming dark.

Brace chortled to himself as he stood beside the bed, pointing the loaded gun right at Mulder, aiming directly between the unconscious man's eyes. 'How was it for you, honey?' he purred before once again bursting into crazy laughter. He watched Mulder through slitted eyes. Mulder's hands hung limply in their shackles and the hair that usually flopped boyishly onto his forehead stuck grimly to his sweat. Brace knew that Mulder was out cold, but nevertheless continued to talk to him as he wiped the sticky messes from his genitals on Mulder's discarded shirt, then proceeded to dress himself. 

'What's the matter boy? Cat gotcha tongue?' Brace taunted. He walked around the bed and surveyed the damage, seeing that Mulder was now haemorrhaging quite badly and that the sheets beneath him were a sticky mess of blood and semen.

'Ooh, Fox, that looks pretty bad. Didn't hurtya none, did I? Hey I sure hope not.' He grinned at Mulder as he quickly pulled his clothing on 'Well, listen up Fox. I sure did enjoy our little time here together. I guess you did to, huh?' He gestured to the crusty remains of the Mulder's own semen which had dried on his stomach. 'So I'm gonna do ya a little favour. I'm gonna get going, gonna leave you and the little lady here all alone together.'

There was no response from either Mulder or Scully. Both lay still and pale, Scully on the floor where she'd fallen, Mulder still stretched out on his back, his thighs still held apart. Brace began packing his things together, though he maintained his grip on Mulder's gun throughout. He lifted Mulder's eyelids, and then seemingly satisfied with what he saw he released Mulder's limbs from their shackles and quickly stuffed the items into his bag. He picked it up and walked jauntily towards the door, then turned and surveyed the scene before him with great satisfaction. 'Good day Sir, Ma'am,' he grinned, as if he were a bellboy who'd just escorted a married couple to their hotel room. Then he disappeared through the door and it slammed shut behind him.

When Scully regained consciousness around thirty minutes later, the silence in the room was suddenly deafening.

'Mulder?' Scully's voice was querulous. 'Mulder, are you okay?' She carefully picked herself up off the floor and hurried as fast as she dared to Mulder's prone form on the bed, gasping in horror to see bright red blood staining the sheets beneath him, petals of deep rose red spreading slowly outwards.

'Oh my God. Mulder.'

She snatched up the phone, dialled 911 and as she gave the operator her details she grabbed a towel from the bathroom, wadded it up and pressed it between Mulder's legs.

'Please tell them to hurry,' she begged, before throwing the phone down on to the bed. She rolled Mulder onto his side, pressing the towel between his thighs hard against the source of the bleeding. She heard him groan and realising he was coming round bent to caress his forehead, gently smoothing his sweaty hair away to the side.

'Mulder, it's okay, an ambulance is on its way. It'll be here soon, I promise.'

He whispered something and she bent over him.

'Didn't hurt you, did he Scully?' he croaked, his eyes frightened for her.

'No, Mulder, I'm okay,' she soothed. 'It's gonna be okay.' She heard the sirens approaching and relief flooded through her veins. 'They're here Mulder, they're gonna take care of you.' She scrutinized his features but he didn't respond, his eyes again closed, dark lashes resting pitifully on icy white skin. She left him briefly to admit the paramedics who were banging on the door, then her bedroom was suddenly filled with activity as the paramedics took over.

Again she grabbed the phone and punched in Skinner's number. She heard the dialling tone briefly, then his brisk, terse answer: 'Skinner.'

'It's me sir, Scully.'

Immediately he knew there was something wrong. 'What is it, Agent Scully?'

She resisted the urge to sob into the phone. 'Sir, it's Agent Mulder; they're taking him to Georgetown Memorial now. He's been the victim of a terrible assault.' Her voice broke suddenly and she felt herself sway. She grabbed hold of her dresser, breathing deeply before continuing. 'We're going to need some of our rape crisis people at the hospital, Sir. 'They're going to need to bring a rape kit and gather evidence.'

Skinner absorbed this last piece of information, and then paused before gently asking, 'Are you all right Agent Scully?' 

Scully heard the genuine concern in his voice and nearly burst into tears. Recognising his mistake she said, 'The rape kit's not for me, Sir, it's for Agent Mulder.' She heard Skinner breathe in sharply. 'I'm on my way. I'll meet you at the hospital, okay?'

'Yes Sir, thank you Sir.'

The paramedics were now ready to transport Mulder to the waiting ambulance. They had noted her own condition and insisted that she ride to the ambulance in a chair, and as she was wheeled along she looked at Mulder's still pale figure lying strapped to the gurney, a drip tube snaking along his left arm and up to the transparent bag dangling above him, his face all battered and bruised, and her tears began to flow.

'Damn, you Albert Brace,' she said vehemently. 'Damn you to hell.'

Continued in 'Brace (Part Two)'

 

* * *

 

BRACE (Part 2) by Tess  
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me; I just like to make them suffer.  
Rating: NC-17  
Key words: Mulder/Skinner/Other, Slash, Rape, M/Sk/Sc Angst  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback:   
Archive: Feel free to archive anywhere - just let me know where.  
Summary/Warning: Brace pays Skinner an unwelcome visit and in a bizarre twist forces Mulder to relive his own ordeal. Contains strong language, violence and graphic rape scenes. 

* * *

As the phone began to ring, its loud pitch accusingly harsh in the shadowy silence, Mulder started guiltily up from the sofa. He'd been lying there for almost two hours now, staring blankly at the ceiling with his hands laced behind his head, silently brooding. He heard first the answer machine take the call, then Scully's voice, trying to sound calm but obviously failing to mask her impatience.

'Mulder? Are you there? Pick up the phone. Please, Mulder.' There was a pause, then she said more gently, 'Look, it doesn't matter about the appointment. You can see Dr. Michaels another time, or someone else if you like.' Silence again, then, 'Is it okay if I come up Mulder? I know you're in there. I'd just like to see you, make sure you're okay.'

Mulder flopped back down onto the sofa and groaned as he rolled onto his side, deliberately turning his back to the door. He didn't want to see her. He didn't want to see anybody, but especially not her. Now she would be on her way up and he could just imagine her determined footsteps, her shoes clicking on the tiled floor as she hurried out of the elevator and down the hallway to his apartment. He shut his eyes tightly, covering his ears with his hands and pulling his knees up to his chest. He was still like that when Scully first knocked, then cautiously entered his apartment. She hovered in the doorway, watching him, a worried frown creasing her brow. He had rolled himself into a ball on his side, and it was obvious to her that he was trying desperately to block everything out.

'Mulder?' she ventured. 'Are you okay?' She watched him anxiously for a few moments, relieved to see that his chest was rising and falling and he was breathing evenly. During the two months since her partner's terrifying rape at the hands of Albert Brace, the one thing Scully had been the most afraid of was suicide. Mulder had been deeply traumatised by his ordeal but had closed himself off from all offers of help. He had refused to see the psychotherapist the Bureau had assigned to his case, despite the warning that he wouldn't be allowed to return to work until he'd attended the recommended number of sessions and had been declared mentally fit. He'd sat dumbly through the first session and cried like a baby at the second, and afterwards had refused point blank to attend any more. He'd also rejected the numerous recommendations of psychiatrists and therapists offered by friends and various other people, but what hurt Scully most of all was the way he'd rejected her. 

Whilst he'd recovered in the hospital he'd wanted her to stay close by his side. He'd even insisted on her being present whilst the rape team gathered the medical evidence they needed to convict Brace - if they ever caught him, that was. Although he'd been sedated and they'd used a strong muscle relaxant, he'd still screamed in agony as they'd collected blood, tissue and semen samples. He'd held her hand then, gripped it fiercely as he was probed and prodded, combed and swabbed. She'd stood over him, holding him, whispering comforting words, soothing him like a mother would a sick child. She wanted to do that now, wanted to sweep him up into her arms and cradle him, rock him and soothe him and kiss all the hurt away. Instead she stood awkwardly in his apartment where she'd always felt welcome and secure. At the hospital, until his internal injuries had healed, he'd been quite heavily sedated and on strong painkillers. She'd sat by his bedside then, talking to him, or more usually, sitting watching over him as he slept. But as he grew physically stronger, he'd turned in on himself, not wanting to speak to her or seemingly to anybody. Two months had passed since the attack and neither of them had so much as mentioned it to the other. 

'Mulder?' she tried again. 'I just wanted to see if you're okay. When you didn't turn up for your appointment I worried that something had happened. You told Skinner you were going to go this time. Mulder...?' Sighing, she bent down to touch him but as her hand brushed against his arm he suddenly flinched violently away from her, making her jump. He hastily pushed himself upright and slid his way to the far end of the couch, as far away from her as he could get. He chewed nervously on his thumbnail, his brow furrowed in a sulky frown.

'What do you want?' he asked her resentfully. 'Why do you keep coming here? I told you before, I just wanna be on my own.' He didn't make eye contact with her, only stared off at a point on the wall somewhere, his face purposely averted. Scully carefully sat down, smoothing her skirt over her knees, making sure she kept to her end of the couch, whilst the expanse of leather between them had suddenly taken on the significance of no man's land.

She studied him carefully for a while and what she saw did little to reassure her. He was pale and gaunt with dark smudges under his eyes, his jaw line was far too sharp and he looked in desperate need of a shower and a shave. He clearly wasn't taking good care of himself at all. Watching his stubbled jaw working furiously as he continued to chew at his nails, she impulsively decided to take a risk. 'You're not okay at all, are you?' she said tenderly but firmly. 'You're very far from okay.'

Mulder felt hot tears pricking his eyes and he swiped at them angrily with the backs of his hands. He couldn't stand it when she started being nice to him, kind and understanding. He knew he didn't deserve it. But suddenly he felt a barely resistible urge to reach for her, to bury his face in the soft stuff of her blouse, to breathe in that comforting Scully smell and ... But there was absolutely no point in thinking like that - he knew he couldn't. He couldn't touch her, could hardly even look at her. And there was no way he could let her touch him. 

After a few long, silent minutes he timidly met her gaze and it wounded her heart to see his eyes brimming with tears. 'I wish you'd let me help you, Mulder,' she coaxed softly. 'If you won't let someone else, at least let me.'

'You can't help me,' he blurted out suddenly. 'No one can.' He turned away from her, hiding his face behind his arm, his breath coming in ragged sobs as he fought to control his fragile emotions. 'Please, go away,' he begged, his voice muffled against the sleeve of his shirt. 'Just leave me alone.'

'But Mulder,' Scully insisted, 'you're making yourself so ill with this. Why won't you talk to me? None of this was your fault, you must know that. If anything it was mine. I was the one stupid enough to let him into my apartment in the first place. Is that why you won't talk to me? Because you blame me?'

'No!' he cried out in agony. 'I don't want to talk about it. Please, Scully.' He slumped against the arm of the sofa, burying his face in the crook of his elbow and she watched him anxiously, torn between the guilt of having pushed him too far and the belief that his emotions sorely needed an outlet.

After a few minutes she felt the stifling silence in the room beating down on her like a fist and she felt compelled to continue, despite his obvious distress. 'Mulder, we haven't ever talked about what happened,' she said gently. 'Not really talked about it. I really think we should.' She paused, trying to gauge his reaction to her words from the set of his shoulders. She studied his neck, looking at how his too-long dark hair curled over onto the collar of his blue shirt, and she resisted the urge to lean towards him and stroke it. 'We haven't talked about what he made me do,' she added softly. 'I think we should talk about it, I really do. I think it's that that's come between us.' She saw from the way he suddenly froze that she had his attention. Was this why he couldn't talk to her? Couldn't even look at her? Because of what had happened between them?

'Mulder, I don't blame you for that. How could I?' She waited, then said quietly, 'You know, if anything, that's the one good memory I have of that whole experience.'

Mulder suddenly exploded and she jumped in fright as he rounded on her aggressively, his eyes red with both tears and blazing anger. 'Good?' he yelled incredulously. 'You call that bastard abusing you, good? Do you? Because that's the last fucking thing I'd call it.' 

'No!' Scully shouted back at him, angry with him despite her concern. 'I don't call abuse good. Of course I don't. What he did to us, Mulder, what he did to you was a terrible, terrible thing, but what he made me do to you, I was glad to do it, Mulder. I gave you pleasure in the face of pain, I comforted you. When I think about what happened that day, and believe me I think about it every day, I think about the terrible things he did to you and I want to cry too, I want to hide myself away like you do, but then I think about the pleasure I gave you and how good it made me feel to do that for you.' She stopped abruptly, her anger on the verge of dissolving into tears. 'And it makes me feel better,' she added simply. He eyed her solemnly, shocked by her outburst, dismayed to see the tears welling in her blue eyes, and desperately wanting to comfort her. But he was totally incapable of doing so.

'Have you finished, Scully?' he asked, his chin jutting upwards defiantly, his low voice hoarse with unshed tears. She nodded, for the moment not trusting herself to speak. 'You want to know what I think about?' 

Again she nodded. 'I know, Mulder,' she started to say, but he shook his head agitatedly and held up a hand to silence her.

'No, Scully, you don't,' he declared adamantly. 'You don't know. You couldn't possibly know.' He took a long shuddering breath. 'I'll tell you shall I?' He ploughed straight on, giving her no time to reply. 'I lie here and I torture myself day after day, night after night. Not thinking about you, not about the pleasure you gave me, but about the pleasure he did.'

His voice cracked and she put out a hand to comfort him but he batted it away fiercely. 'Do you hear what I'm saying, Scully? I don't think about the pain.' He shook his head bitterly, swallowing back tears. 'I can cope with pain, God only knows I've had enough practice over the years. But what I can't cope with...' His voice trailed off and he hid his face behind his hands, ashamed of the way his features contorted as he struggled to confess the unthinkable. 'What I can't cope with - is the - the uh, the ... the pleasure.' The final word tore guiltily and painfully from his throat and he bent forward, clutching his head and beginning to sob with deep, anguished, gulping cries that racked his chest and clawed pitifully at Scully's heart. Suddenly, with a roar of bitter frustration, he balled his hands into fists and began to beat himself ferociously about the head and face. 'I can't stand it,' he cried in desperation. 'I can't. I can't stand it anymore.' 

Scully leapt up from the sofa, grabbing at his wrists, trying to restrain him. 'Stop it, Mulder,' she shouted, deeply disturbed by this ugly demonstration of his own self-hatred. He slapped her hands away, but then suddenly the rage faded and he slumped forward, sobbing hard, his face buried in his hands once more. She waited a moment before gingerly sitting down beside him, then tentatively she put out her hands to embrace him and was relieved when, instead of pulling away from her, he leaned towards her, melting against the soft warmth of her body. She pulled him close, her fingers in his hair, smoothing, stroking, soothing. She held him tightly and let him cry, and soon she was crying too, her tears wetting his hair where he leant against her.

When they at last pulled apart, eyes red-rimmed and faces puffy, she tenderly smoothed his hair back from his face and stroked away his tears with her delicate fingers.

'Talk to me, Mulder,' she whispered.

He nodded, but then his face crumpled again, his lower lip trembling as he fought to contain his emotions. Scully passed him a tissue from her purse and he wiped his eyes, then blew his nose loudly.

'I can't stop thinking about it,' he blurted out suddenly, again swallowing back tears. 'You saw what happened, Scully, you saw what he did, how it affected me. It turned me on, for Christ's sake. How can I ever come to terms with that?' He dropped his eyes and again his lower lip quivered, but then he went on in a quieter tone, seeming to draw strength from her calm features and steady gaze. 'The bastard raped me, he hurt me and he humiliated me. And I ... I enjoyed it.' He burst into fresh sobs, his shoulders heaving, no longer bothering to hide his face or conceal his anguish.

'Shhh,' she soothed, her hand on his back patting him reassuringly. 'It's okay, everything's going to be okay.' 

As a Catholic she firmly believed that confession was good for the soul, and now, with soft words of encouragement and tender caresses, she gently coaxed him into confessing, not his sins (she desperately didn't want him to see them as sins) but his fears. Fretfully and stuttering nervously over his words, he eventually managed to confide in her his very worst fear, that because of what had happened, because of what she had seen, and now what he'd told her, he was absolutely terrified that he was going to lose her. 

'Do you hate me?' he asked her, still tearful and again avoiding her gaze for fear that he might witness some terrible truth there.

'Mulder, no, of course not,' she said truthfully and emphatically. He shook his head in hopeless disbelief but she leaned towards him, taking his face tenderly between her palms. 'Look at me,' she commanded gently. Fearfully he lifted his eyes to meet hers and she was grieved to see such deep pain swirling within their cloudy depths. 'Mulder,' she said firmly, 'I don't hate you. It wasn't your fault and I don't blame you at all for what happened. You were a victim, Mulder. We both were.'

'But - but what if he comes back, Scully?' he faltered, his eyes round and scared. 'Wh - why didn't he kill us? Why didn't he kill me?' She hesitated, partly because she didn't know the answer, but mainly because the Bureau had deliberately kept the news of two recent and brutal murders from him. Both victims had been young men in their early twenties - one in Martinsville two weeks after Mulder's assault, and the other as close by as Richmond only ten days ago. Both men had been brutally raped and both murders had had Brace's characteristic style stamped all over them. It seemed very possible then, that Brace was still in the area but of course there was no way she could let Mulder know that. His mental state was fragile enough already. 

'I really don't know the answer to that,' she replied carefully. 'But it's something I'll help you to deal with, Mulder. I promise.' He looked at her with gratitude then and she thought for a moment she saw the ghost of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth, but it was gone just as quickly as it had appeared and he soon returned to his former brooding. She tried to get him to open up some more but he again became very tearful and she thought it best not to push him too hard. She left him sitting hunched forward on the sofa, shredding the damp tissue into tiny pieces whilst she searched his bare store-cupboards for something for him to eat. Finding a can of chicken soup hiding behind some mouldy bread and ancient breakfast cereal boxes, she suggested that he take a shower whilst she heated the soup for him on the stove. He reluctantly agreed, but after he'd emerged from the bathroom, the sour smell of sweat rinsed away, damp hair combed back from his face and bits of towel fluff sticking to the dark stubble on his chin, he sat down at the table and she watched him, satisfied as he slowly spooned the soup into his mouth and nibbled on a piece of bread she'd salvaged from the centre of the mouldy loaf. She decided that despite the dark shadows and puffiness around his eyes, he really did look a little better.

'Mulder,' she began carefully, 'I have a few errands to run that'll probably take me a few hours, but, well ... why don't I drop by later this evening and we could maybe get a take-out, watch a movie on TV or something? What do you say?' She waited hopefully, watching him, hardly daring to breathe, and with her fingers crossed behind her back.

He stared down into the half-empty soup bowl, and she thought at first he was going to say no, but then he sighed wearily and looked up at her. 'Okay,' he mumbled in agreement.

'Okay,' she echoed, pleased, but trying not to show it, almost as if she were afraid she might break the spell. 'Leave the washing up, Mulder,' she told him as she pulled her jacket on. 'I'll see to it later. And try and get some proper rest, okay?' She bent to kiss his forehead but he immediately stiffened and turned away slightly. She drew back, annoyed with herself for expecting too much too soon. 

'See you later then,' she said quietly. He nodded wearily then stood up and shuffled back to the sofa. He was exhausted now, she could see that, and again she felt a stab of guilt. She watched, frowning in concern as he lay down, again turning away from her. She then picked up her purse and left, closing the door tightly behind her. She hurried down to her car, climbed into it quickly but then just sat there with her hands on the wheel, appreciating the moment's solitude and tranquillity after the emotional turmoil of the last couple of hours. She carefully considered everything that had just happened. Had she done the right thing, she wondered? She sincerely hoped so - she couldn't stand to see him torture himself in this way. She sat like that for a while, a good twenty minutes at least, mulling every thing over inside her head, trying to unravel the complicated web of thoughts and feelings that lay tangled there. 

Eventually a sudden movement outside the car caught her eye and she looked up, stunned to see Mulder hurrying across the parking lot, his black leather jacket flapping bat-like in the wind and contrasting starkly with his pallid skin. Watching him through her rear view mirror she quickly ascertained that he hadn't seen her and, out of concern for him more than anything else she decided to follow him.

She thought that this was probably the first time he'd ventured out of his apartment alone since his release from hospital, which possibly explained why he drove so cautiously and was therefore so easy to tail. Although she maintained her distance she thought at one point she'd been spotted, but as Mulder parked his car outside AD Skinner's apartment block he showed no signs of acknowledging her presence. Even though he looked pale and nervous, she felt relieved when she saw him enter the block's main entrance. She knew that Skinner had been to see Mulder a couple of days ago as he'd complained to her that he'd found the visit very difficult, particularly when he'd offered the name of a therapist who'd helped him through his divorce and Mulder had blown up at him. He'd refused to quote what Mulder had said to him, but she'd gathered from the purse of his lips that it had been most insulting. Maybe, she thought hopefully, her heart to heart with Mulder had done him some good after all. Perhaps he now felt the need to talk things through with another man, someone he trusted who might really understand? She drove off almost cheerfully, convinced suddenly that all would eventually be well. Unfortunately for both Mulder and Skinner, however, that thought couldn't have been further from the truth. 

Inside the apartment block, Mulder cautiously made his way along the deserted hallway towards Walter Skinner's apartment. As he approached the door he could see it was already ajar and he froze, suddenly terrified as he remembered the way he'd confidently breezed into Scully's apartment on the day he'd found her door open, blissfully unaware of the horror that lay in wait for him within. Now that he was here at Skinner's door he felt terror's fierce hand squeezing his heart. He had an urge to turn right around and make a run for it, but deep down he knew that wasn't an option. He'd known that from the second he'd sleepily lifted the receiver in his own apartment a short while after Scully had left, the shrill ringing having shaken him out of his fitful doze. He'd half expected it to be her on the other end of line, making sure he wasn't slitting his wrists or something. Instead the skin on the back of his neck had crawled as Brace's sadistic threats had snaked into his ear. 

With a thudding heart Mulder drew out his gun and automatically adopted a marksman's stance as he neared the door. He noted with dismay that his hands were shaking and he was ashamed to think that his aim could not be trusted. With a rush of adrenalin he charged into the apartment, flinging the door back on its hinges, swinging his gun in a barely controlled arc from left to right. The door swung back and slammed shut behind him, the loud clang making him jump nervously.

'Brace,' he tried to shout, hating the way his voice sounded, so shaky and insubstantial. 'I'm armed. Show yourself.' 

He waited. Nothing answered but the steady hum of the air conditioning.

'Brace?' he called out again. Again nothing. He carefully edged around the sofa and coffee table, and then recoiled, horrified to see an elderly woman lying in a twisted heap on the floor against the wall. She eyed him coldly and, although there were no visible signs of injury, she was clearly dead. 

'Housekeeper, maybe?' his mind questioned, his thoughts seeming rational and controlled, although in reality his nerves were screaming, every sinew in his body poised for flight.

'Brace, I know you're in here. Show yourself, now!' God, why had he come here alone? He couldn't do this, he just couldn't. He advanced slowly, almost dreamily towards Skinner's bedroom door. Closing his eyes for a fleeting moment he took a deep breath then gingerly pushed the door open with the toe of his shoe.

The sight that met his eyes came as no real surprise but nevertheless had a devastating effect upon him. It was like reliving a terrible nightmare, although one that he had gone to sleep expecting to dream. His feet were suddenly frozen to the floor and his heart began to race as his eyes first took in the naked form of Skinner, face down and lying sideways across the bed, inextricably bound to it by an assortment of chains and cuffs of a type that Mulder recognised immediately from his own ordeal. The pillowcase beneath Skinner's head was stained with blood, fresh by the look of it, the source of which he soon realised was a two-inch gash along Skinner's scalp above his left ear. He could see signs of struggle - the nightstand had been knocked over and the lamp broken, and Skinner's spectacles lay smashed on the carpet. He could see the pieces of broken glass twinkling in the half-light. 

He formed a question in his mind but at first found himself unable to speak. He felt the walls closing in on him and swayed dizzily, his heart pounding. 'Sir..?' he at last questioned tentatively, his voice sounding tremulous and insubstantial as though disembodied, but he was met with only silence. He stood in the open doorway, transfixed, dry-mouthed, his heart thudding, reliving his own ordeal in the presence of Skinner's and, by the time he started to react to a brief movement on the very edge of his vision, it was already too late. He turned slowly to the right to see a large pistol pointing straight at his head.

'Fox,' purred a familiar, hateful voice, as smooth and as deadly as poisoned cream. 'So glad you could make my little party. And you were thoughtful enough to bring me a little something too. That's very kind of you. Just put it carefully over there, why don't you?' He gestured over towards the oak dresser and, after a moment's hesitation, Mulder obediently placed his weapon on the shiny, dust-free surface. He thought of the housekeeper, perhaps polishing this room minutes before her life had ended. It was an absurd thought, he knew, but it was a concrete thought and he clung to it desperately.

'Okay, Fox, now turn around and face the wall,' Brace instructed. 'And put your hands up and spread your legs.' As Mulder obeyed him, he suddenly chortled merrily to himself. 'God I love saying that!' he laughed. 'You're one hell of a lucky bastard, Fox. I bet you get to say stuff like that all the time in your line of work.'

Mulder now stood with his back to Brace, his palms pressed against the wall, his breathing quickening and his stomach churning with fear, cursing himself for being so damn stupid. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain pierce his thigh. He cried out, twisting round in time to see Brace squeezing the plunger on a syringe which was now sticking out of his leg. Within seconds his vision had blurred and slewed to the left, and everything tilted sickeningly. Feeling as though he were on a rolling ship, he clawed at the syringe as he sank to his knees, but it was as if he were groping his way through deep murky water. He fell onto all fours and bravely attempted to crawl away before collapsing heavily to the floor.

***

'Come on Fox, come on boy, come back to me.'

Mulder groaned and tried unsuccessfully to jerk his face away from the insistent slapping. He opened his eyes slowly, already sure of what he was about to see. Sure enough Brace's face appeared in a haze, hovering above him and grinning triumphantly. He found himself naked and lying on the floor, his wrists handcuffed together in front of him, and he was soon painfully aware that there was some kind of chain wound tightly around his neck, attaching him like a dog to the heavy oak bedstead in Skinner's bedroom. As he slowly pushed himself up on to his knees, his limbs heavy and his head thumping, he groaned deeply, both frightened and angry, yet at the same time somewhat resigned to finding himself once again naked and at Brace's mercy. What the hell had he hoped to gain by coming here alone anyway, he asked himself? Did he think he was some kind of superman, able to take on the world single-handedly? The world? That was a joke for a start. He hadn't even been able to control this situation, never mind save the world. From his lowly position on the floor he peered up at Skinner's prone body. Mulder was almost glad that Skinner seemed to be unconscious and couldn't see him. Couldn't see how he scared he was.

Brace smiled genially at Mulder, his arms folded over the navy towelling robe he'd found hanging behind the door in Skinner's bathroom. Mulder watched him warily, his eyes repeatedly drawn towards the round black hole at the end of the gun barrel.

'Well, Fox, how ya doin' these days?' Brace asked him with mock concern. 'You look kinda skinny. Didya lose some weight?' He suddenly snorted with laughter, as if he'd just heard the world's funniest joke. 'That stuff I injected you with should be wearing off now, Fox. Don't look so worried baby, it was only a little nitrous oxide mixed with some other stuff. Nothing so terrible. Might give you a little bit of a headache but that's about it.' He nodded at Skinner. 'I gave him a bit more than you,' he explained. 'Didn't want him shouting out and warning you or nothing.'

Mulder again raised fearful eyes to look at Skinner where he lay still and silent on the bed. 'What else have you done to him?' he asked in a scared whisper.

Brace shrugged his shoulders. 'Oh, this and that,' he replied nonchalantly, running his left hand down over Skinner's muscular calves, before rounding on Mulder, the pistol gripped tightly in his other hand. 'He's got a good body, Fox, but it's not as sweet as yours - a little too muscular for my liking. And I usually like 'em younger. But you knew that already, dintcha?' Mulder shuddered at Brace's cheerful words and cast his eyes down to the floor, bowing his head as if in prayer.

'So, didya miss me then?' Brace enquired jovially, ignoring Mulder's obvious discomfort. 'I sure missed you, boy. It's been kinda hard to keep my distance all this time but I have been watching you. Hey, you sure do have a lot of people running about the place taking care of ya. I thought that red-headed bitch was never gonna leave today.' He paused and jerked his thumb at Skinner. 'And this guy led me back here yesterday. You two have a row or something? He looked pretty angry when he left. Who is he anyways, your boss or something? I know he's FBI like you.' Again he paused, scrutinising Mulder's bent head. 'Ain't you gonna talk to me, Fox? I thought you'd have been pleased to see me.' 

Suddenly there was a deep groan from the bed as Skinner began to surface. Brace turned from Mulder and stooped excitedly over the bed, and when Skinner eventually opened his eyes, it was to see Brace's nose less than two inches away from his own.

'Walter, my man!' Brace shouted with genuine enthusiasm. Suddenly he was dancing about like a kid at his own birthday party. 'Guess who's here. Go on, guess!'

Skinner, more alert now, tried to pull away, but found he was still chained tightly to the bed. 'Let me go,' he demanded hoarsely. 'Please, you've had your fun. Let me go.'

Brace merely threw back his head and guffawed loudly. 'Let you go? But we're having such a great time, Walter!' He swung the flat of his hand down in a curving arc and gave Skinner an almighty smack across the buttocks. The stinging slap resounded around the room and instantly a crimson imprint of Brace's fingers appeared on Skinner's flesh. Skinner flinched but remained silent - tense, but utterly silent. Mulder remembered his own pain on the day of his assault, the way he'd whined and complained and eventually screamed. He flushed suddenly as he also remembered the feel of Brace's cock slamming into him and he hung his head in shame. He screwed his eyes up tightly, but all he could see in his mind was the milky arc that had spurted from his own cock only to splatter humiliatingly onto Scully's bed.

'Brace,' he said bravely, attempting to push the ugly images out of his tortured mind. 'Please let Skinner go. He has nothing to do with this. This is between you and me.' 

'Don't be so hasty, Fox,' Brace reprimanded. 'You see, our friend Walter here has already learned a few lessons from me, haven't you Walter? We've been having a real fun time whilst we've been waiting for you. Oh, don't look so worried, Fox! You haven't missed me fucking him or anything. We've been doing ... other things. But he's got a little treat to give you later. It's real exciting, isn't it guys?' He waited until Mulder dragged his eyes up to meet his own and noted Mulder's fearful expression with satisfaction. 'Can you think what that treat might be, little boy?' 

Slowly, Mulder shook his head, his huge frightened eyes frozen in the path of Brace's icy stare. 

'Oh well, that's something to look forward to then, isn't it? You don't mind me calling you Fox, do you? After all, we are on intimate terms now. Yours was the best ass I've ever fucked, you know. Well, the most satisfying anyway, seeing as I waited all those years for it. I can't possibly see how Walter's could better it. Oh, by the way, Fox,' he taunted, 'I like your choice in underwear!' He pulled Mulder's boxer shorts from the pocket of the robe, waving them proudly like a victory flag before reverently pressing the dark blue silk to his nostrils. He closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. 'Mmmmmmm, Fox, you smell so good. What do you think Walter?' He screwed the silky material into a loose ball and pressed it against Skinner's nose and mouth. 'He's delicious, isn't he? Just breathe in that delicious Mulder scent.' Again there was no reply from Skinner. Having already experienced Brace's violent temper and unpredictable mood swings he thought it best to keep quiet. He certainly didn't want to antagonise Brace again if he could help it. 

'Please,' Mulder begged. 'You can leave him out of this. You've got me now. You've got me..' His voice trailed off in a desperate sob.

'Aww, do you hear him Walter? He wants to save you. He's a sweet, brave boy, isn't he? I don't think he wants me to fuck you for some reason. I don't know why not though. He so enjoyed it when I fucked him, didn't you Fox? You should have seen how hard he came, Walter.'

A look of abject horror passed over Mulder's face and his eyes skittered anxiously over to where Skinner lay. He swallowed nervously, no longer trusting himself to speak. 

Seeing his discomfort, Brace pounced eagerly. 'What's the matter, Fox?' he taunted. 'Your little girlfriend keep your secret, did she?' He turned back to Skinner. 'Oh, he enjoyed it all right, Walter, make no mistake about that. He enjoyed feeling my cock banging into his ass, and he enjoyed my hands sliding up and down his dick as I fucked him. There was come all over that bitch's bed, wasn't there, Fox?'

'Look, why don't you just leave him alone?' came Skinner's voice angrily. 'Haven't you put him through enough already?' Then to Mulder he spoke in a softer tone. 'Don't let him get to you, Mulder,' he advised. His voice was comfortingly deep and reassuringly calm, and Mulder looked towards him gratefully.

'Aww, that's so nice,' Brace broke in sarcastically. 'You two boys seem to have something going all of your own. You don't need me here at all.' He turned threateningly towards Mulder. 'C'mon. Admit it to him, Fox,' he insisted. 'You loved being fucked in the ass. Oh, I know it hurt you at first, it always does the first time, but it wasn't long before you were grinding your ass back at me, wanting me to fuck you harder. You deny that and you're a goddamn liar.' He spat the final words scornfully into Mulder's face. 'Come on now, boy, admit it.'

But Mulder just shook his head dumbly, tears welling in his eyes, his lower lip trembling. Brace slowly brought the gun up and levelled it at Skinner.

'Admit it,' he threatened coldly, 'or I'll blow his fucking brains out.' 

Mulder still continued to stare unblinkingly up at Brace. A single tear slipped down his cheek and on seeing it, Brace smiled at him cruelly. 

'Okay, then,' he said matter-of-factly. 'Have it your own way.' He extended the gun towards Skinner and closed one eye, taking aim.

Mulder heard the metallic scrape as the trigger tightened and the gun's chamber began to shift. 'Brace,' he screamed. 'For Christ's sake...' He saw Skinner cringing away from the gun, turning towards him, his expression one of terror. 'Yes, okay,' Mulder yelled. 'Okay, I admit it, I enjoyed it Brace, I did, I did! Please, don't do it, please!'

Brace turned to lock eyes with Mulder once more, enjoying the crazed terror he witnessed there. 'What did you say, boy?' he enquired calmly, his finger still tightly gripping the trigger.

'You're right,' Mulder babbled, blindly hoping his words would save Skinner. 'I did enjoy it. I did.' He dropped his head, the shame of terrible admission bringing on the tears hard and fast for the second time that day. 

Brace nodded, satisfied with Mulder's response. 'Good boy,' he said approvingly. He turned and laid the gun on the dresser behind him. 'You've done the right thing.'

Skinner had been watching the whole exchange from the bed, his neck twisted painfully around and now, although his vision was blurred without his spectacles, he had no trouble recognising Brace's form as he approached. 'You touch me again and I'll fucking kill you,' he growled and as Brace neared the bed he began pulling frantically at the chains cuffed to his wrists. Brace, finding it all highly amusing, merely laughed, dismissing the threat immediately. 

'Yeah, right,' he retorted, unfastening the robe and allowing it to fall open. 'Like you can stop me when I got you all trussed up like a chicken!' Mulder saw that Brace was naked beneath the robe and his cock already stood firm and erect. He watched, sick to his stomach, as their captor pulled a tube of lubricant from the pocket of the robe and skilfully applied the slippery substance to his erection in one smooth movement. Shrugging off the robe he revealed his naked torso, the muscles hard and knotted, the skin scarred after his many years in prison.

Mulder held his breath in fearful anticipation as Brace clambered onto the bed behind Skinner, for the shocking scenario was all too familiar. 'For God's sake,' he shouted out hoarsely, straining against the chain around his neck. 'Leave him alone. Take me, Brace, it's me you want.' The last words were spluttered out as he broke down into hoarse sobs. He couldn't stand it. Couldn't stand to see another man go through the same ordeal he'd suffered. As Brace grabbed hold of Skinner's hips, Skinner violently resisted, shouting and thrashing his arms and legs against the chains and leather restraints.

'Get off me, you filthy bastard, get off,' Skinner yelled, struggling frantically against Brace's grip. But the combination of Brace's weight and the fact that Skinner was so tightly bound meant that he quickly lost the fight. Brace pounced onto Skinner's back, pressing him flat to the mattress and then swung his left arm up and smashed his fist hard against the back of Skinner's neck. Almost immediately Skinner went limp in Brace's grip, clearly stunned by the ferocious blow. He struggled weakly as Brace, with one heavy arm pressed down hard against his neck, spread his cheeks with his other hand and began pushing between them with his hard, slippery erection. Trapped beneath Brace's heavy muscular body, Skinner could only squirm feebly as he desperately tried to escape the pressure of Brace's thick cock pressing hard against his anus.

There came a small gagging cry from Skinner as Brace began to penetrate him. Mulder squeezed his eyes tightly shut, desperately wanting to block out the terrible sight. 'Oh Jesus, no,' he whispered, as he relived his own agony, trembling as he crouched on the floor at the foot of the bed, reeling now from the ugly sounds generated by Brace's eager fucking. 'This is how Scully must have felt,' his anguished thoughts told him. 'Oh Jesus, did she feel like this? When she was watching him rape me and she wasn't able to do a damn thing to stop it?' When he reopened his eyes it was to see Brace's hips pumping vigorously as he began to fuck Skinner's ass faster and harder. Skinner was gasping in pain with each hard inward thrust, pinned to the bed by the speed and violence of the pounding and the excruciating pain as his rectum was repeatedly rammed full, emptied then rammed again. Brace's movements quickly intensified, became even harder, faster. With deep, violent thrusts and a guttural cry of 'Oh, yeah, oh fuck, yeah,' he delivered his semen deeply into Skinner's rectum. Mulder heard Skinner cry out in pain and anguish, and at that moment he knew that there was no way his boss had experienced the extra humiliation of enjoying his own rape as he himself had done. He couldn't help feeling envious of the fact that Skinner would be able to hate Brace but he wouldn't have to hate himself.

Mulder watched wretchedly as Brace stood up and staggered away from the bed. He was panting heavily, his face ruddy and beaded with sweat, although he was sporting a self-satisfied grin.

'Not bad,' he sneered. 'Nice and tight, but not as sweet as your pretty boy ass, Foxy.' He slid the robe back on and loosely tied the belt around his waist before picking up his pistol from the dresser where it lay next to Mulder's.

'Bastard.' Skinner's voice was muffled, his face buried in the pillow, but the word he spoke was nevertheless perfectly audible. Brace whipped round, suddenly incensed.

'What did you just call me?' he demanded menacingly. 

Skinner lifted his mouth from the pillow and defiantly turned to face his assailant. 'I said you're a bastard,' he spat, enunciating the final word loudly and clearly. He flinched as Brace snatched up the gun and flew at him, repeatedly whacking the pistol down hard across his back. He cried out loud, at first in surprise but then he began to groan loudly as the agonising pain kicked in. 

'That'll teach you to call me names,' Brace snarled angrily, spittle spraying from his mouth in tiny droplets. 'You'll be pissing blood for at least a month - if I decide to let you live, that is.' He turned to face Mulder, breathing hard. 'Fox?' 

Mulder looked up fearfully, dread making his heart pound as Brace stomped towards him.

'Walter's been a naughty boy, hasn't he, Fox?' he panted. When Mulder didn't reply he repeated menacingly through gritted teeth, 'HASN'T HE, FOX?'

'Yes,' came the eventual answer in a hushed whisper.

'But we're not going to let him spoil that little treat I was talking about, are we? You see Fox, now that I've loosened Walter up for you, I wanna give him to you as a gift. I want you to fuck him.'

Mulder gasped and stared up at Brace, his face a mask of horror. 'You - you want me t-to what?' he stammered incredulously.

Brace nodded, a satisfied grin on his face. 'Yeah, you heard right, boy. You're gonna fuck him. Right now.' 

Mulder shook his head fervently. 'No, no, I - I'm not doing it,' he cried. 'You can damn well kill me if you want to but I'm not doing it.' 

'Oh, I won't kill you, Fox,' Brace laughed maddeningly, amused by Mulder's little show of defiance. 'There's so much left for us to do together yet. No, I'll just kill him instead.' Brace calmly brought the gun out from its hiding place behind his back and yet again pointed it directly at the back of Skinner's head, this time with the solemn air of an executioner. 'Fuck him or he dies,' he snarled.

'No!' Mulder shouted. 'Please, Brace, I'm begging you, please don't make me do this.' He thought of Scully and the ultimatum Brace had issued to her. She'd done what Brace had wanted to save her partner. Would he now have to do the same for Skinner? He said plaintively, 'Haven't we suffered enough?'

'Suffered? Ha! That's rich, coming from you, Fox,' Brace shouted angrily. 'Suffering's being locked up day after day, night after night. No decent food, no decent sex. And all because one curious little boy managed to sniff me out with his sharp foxy nose.'

'Please, Brace, for God's sake,' Mulder begged as he grovelled on the floor. 'I don't wanna do it, don't make me, please.' He again dissolved into tears but Brace continued to aim the gun directly at Skinner's head, his steady grip never wavering for a second.

'Get up Mulder,' he ordered sharply. 'Get up or I'll kill the bastard and then I'll make you fuck his corpse. Come on man, stop snivelling. Gimme a show like you did the last time.'

'What?' Mulder asked, momentarily confused. 'Wh - what do you mean?'

'Come on Foxy, don't play hard to get. You know what. The way that little bitch of a partner of yours sucked your cock. She was red hot for it, like a bitch in heat. Tell me, what did you like best, Fox, me pounding your ass or her sucking you off? You're not gonna wound me by choosing her are you? I must admit to feeling jealous when you shot your load in her pretty little mouth. Hey! Maybe I'll suck you myself later and then I'll go find her and she and I can compare notes!'

'You bastard,' Mulder shouted at him. 'You leave her alone. Don't you dare go near her.' He yanked angrily at his chains trying to strike out at his tormentor, but Brace easily anticipated his moves and first dodged him, then forcefully dealt him a fisted blow across his left cheekbone. He was sent sprawling to the floor where he curled himself up on the rug, clutching his face, moaning, hating Brace, but hating himself even more for being so weak and helpless. 

'C'mon Mulder,' Brace was shouting, his fist still raised. 'You don't want me to have to beat you into this, do you? I know you're dying for it really. You just won't admit it.'

'I don't care what you do to me,' Mulder suddenly yelled back vehemently, a ferocious defiance lending heat to his words. 'I won't do it!'

Brace's expression visibly darkened and he marched powerfully over to where Mulder crouched. Mulder desperately tried to scramble away from him on all fours, but was pulled up short like a frightened animal as the chain around his throat tightened, snapping him back, choking him and preventing his escape. Brace grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked it back, exposing his throat to the pistol. 'You'll fucking well do what I tell you to do, you goddamn little punk,' he insisted quietly through gritted teeth, forcibly dragging Mulder back to the side of the bed by the hair. 'Wanna see what'll happen to your boyfriend if you defy me?' he demanded angrily. He released Mulder's hair from his grip and pushed him roughly to the floor where he lay gasping and wheezing, clawing at his throat, and trying to free himself from the chain's tight grip. He managed to loosen it a little then rolled over just in time to see a flash of bright steel as Brace produced a nine inch carving knife from under the mattress.

'Watch this, Fox,' he grinned and then in one swift stroke he plunged the knife down hard into the back of Skinner's left hand. Skinner screamed as the blade sliced straight into his flesh, crunching through bone and tendon. He twisted in agony as Brace then leant his weight over the handle and forcibly pushed the blade down slowly inch by inch, until it was buried deep into the mattress.

'Jesus Christ, oh Jesus Christ,' Mulder sobbed, watching as Skinner writhed, hearing first his agonised screams, then guttural moans. Blood bubbled from the wound, and the white sheets were quickly stained a bright crimson. Skinner twisted convulsively, pulling on his chains and snorting noisily through his nose as he turned in horror to see his hand pinned agonisingly to the bed. 

Brace loomed over Skinner, once more aiming the gun directly at his head, the barrel end only an inch away from his temple. 'Want me to blow him away, Fox,' he demanded. 'Want to see his brain splatter the fucking wall, do you? DO YOU?'

'For Christ sake, do what he tells you Mulder,' Skinner screamed. 'Please, just do it. Please Mulder.'

'Well Fox? What do you say?' Brace's tone oozed venom yet sounded quietly calm in comparison to Skinner's frantic, pain-filled outburst. 'He's practically begging for it,' he added with a sardonic smile.

'Yes,' Mulder sobbed, 'yes, okay, anything. Just please don't hurt him anymore.' He froze suddenly, horrified to hear himself echoing Scully's words. Yet again the realisation of just what an ordeal it must have been for her hit him like a hammer blow; to have seen him suffer, to have felt responsible for that suffering. He raised his eyes to see Brace, flint-faced and smiling coldly down at him, eyes like blue ice boring into him and chilling him to the core.

Skinner's blood continued to seep into the white sheets and Mulder watched, his shocked eyes dark in his pallid face as Brace retrieved Skinner's pristinely white work shirt from the floor where it had lain discarded in a twisted heap since Skinner had been forced to strip at gunpoint at two o'clock that afternoon. It was now after six, and in the lengthening shadows Brace leant forward and tugged on the knife, twisting it a little as he did so before brandishing its blade in Mulder's face. Blood slid slowly along the serrated edge and splashed onto the floor right in front of him where he knelt on his hands and knees. Skinner cringed in agony as Brace roughly grasped the spoiled hand and bound the white material tightly around the wound.

'Don't want you passing out on us or anything, do we Walter?' he crooned with mock concern. 'We still want you to enjoy Fox fucking his first butt in glorious Technicolor, don't we?' He tied the shirt off tightly, then satisfied with his crude attempt at first aid he turned suddenly to Mulder. 'I take it is your first time, Fox?' Mulder eyed him resentfully and, although inwardly seething with helpless hatred, nodded silently in grim resignation.

'Right, well come on then, it's time to get on with the show. You'll need this, I think.' Brace reached into his pocket, withdrawing something with a flourish which he then threw at Mulder. It hit him on the shoulder before bouncing onto the floor and he looked down at the object where it lay. He closed his eyes, shuddering when he realised what it was - a tube of lubricant. 

'Come on Mulder,' chivvied Brace, suddenly brisk and cheerful. 'We haven't got all day!'

Skinner's voice croaked down to him from the bed. 'Please Mulder,' he begged. 'Please do what he tells you.' His fingers curled spasmodically as he tried in vain to ball his ruined hand into a fist and, hearing the desperation mingled with fear and pain in Skinner's voice, Mulder, as if in a trance, picked up the tube from the floor, the handcuff chain rattling as he turned the small tube over in his hands.

'What about these?' he questioned angrily, thrusting his cuffed wrists into the air. 

'What about them?' 

Mulder glowered up at Brace. 'Take them off,' he demanded sullenly.

Brace appraised him coolly, and Mulder shuddered as the other man's icy glare spiked through him. 'Not a chance, boy. D'you think I'm a fool?' He grinned suddenly, although his expression was devoid of warmth. 'Anyway, I think they look kinda ... cute.' He smiled, a cold, cruel smile, and his eyes hardened. Mulder cringed as Brace bent towards him, but then felt deft fingers close to his neck as his captor released the chain. 

'Okay, enough already,' Brace snapped. 'Get on with it.'

'This can't be happening,' Mulder muttered quietly under his breath as he flipped open the lid of the tube and squeezed out a little of the clear, bubbly lubricant onto his palm before carefully placing it back down on the rug. After a fearful glance at Brace he tentatively put his hand down to his penis and began to smear its length with the cold slick stuff. He didn't think he had any chance of getting an erection in these circumstances, but even with shaking hands and his heart pounding nervously in his chest, he felt his cock begin to harden almost immediately at his own touch. As he gradually became accustomed to the unfamiliar sensation of the slippery lubricant, his fingers slid easily up and down the length of his steadily growing erection. 

Brace backed his way into the chair at the side of the bed, still generally aiming the gun in Skinner's direction, although his attention was now firmly focused on Mulder. He sat silently for a minute or so, keenly watching the shy, self-conscious movements of Mulder's hands as they tentatively stroked his penis. 'That's right, boy,' he encouraged, his voice deepening with pleasure. 'Smooth it all over. Yeah, that's right, concentrate on the head. Mmmm yeah, Foxy, that's real good baby. Now pump it a little. Get it nice and hard for me.' To Mulder's dismay his cock continued to stiffen and swell as he found himself obeying, sliding his hand up and down the length of his erection, pulling a little on the end, squeezing and tugging the head between thumb and forefinger, the way he liked to do it when he masturbated on his own at home. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see Brace watching him, and certainly not wanting to look at Skinner.

Brace's heavy-lidded eyes flicked appreciatively from Mulder's smooth long-fingered hands as they handled his stiffening cock, to his face and back again. He had known all along with a passionate certainty that his hatred for Mulder was entirely double-edged; this was the man he hated, the man he blamed most of all for his capture and subsequent incarceration, but he was also the most physically attractive man Brace had ever seen. He was thinking now how achingly beautiful Mulder was, and how he almost regretted putting those ugly red marks on such a handsome face. His earnest gaze devoured the sorrowful eyebrows, the strong nose, and the thick dark hair. His eyes lingered on Mulder's long smooth fingers and oh God, that pouting lower lip. Oh, how he longed to kiss that exquisite mouth, to push his tongue between those full lips and feel Mulder's tongue playing lightly over his own.

Mulder suddenly looked up, disconcerted by Brace's lengthy silence, his hazel eyes meeting Brace's startlingly blue ones. He immediately recognised the desire in Brace's eyes and he paled visibly. 

'Okay,' Brace murmured appreciatively. 'Now get behind him, Fox. Come on, come on man.'

Reluctantly Mulder did as he was told. He slowly hauled himself to his feet, then slid onto the bed so that he was kneeling between Skinner's parted thighs. He glanced at Skinner's face, slick with a sheen of sweat and half-turned in profile towards him, and could see his lips moving wordlessly. Was he praying or just delirious with pain? Mulder didn't know though he saw that the shirt knotted tightly around the damaged hand was now stained with blood, the crimson deepening to a dark rose red. 

'Come on Mulder,' urged Brace. 'Fuck him and I'll let him live. It's all up to you now. You make it a good one and I'll turn you both loose. You have my word.'

Mulder looked down at Skinner's naked body, seeing how the older man's muscles were tensed, rigid with pain and fearful anticipation, and his erection immediately began to wilt. 'I can't,' he cried. 'I can't do it.'

'Yeah you can,' came Skinner's hoarse voice, tight with pain. His message was very clear. 'Please Mulder, you have to do this. I swear I won't blame you. I swear it on my honour.' 

Faced with the oaths of both men, Mulder knew he had no choice. With a low moan of defeat he leant forward and started trying to press the tip of his erection up against Skinner's tightly puckered anus. He pushed but the angle was wrong and his cock just slithered all the way up Skinner's crease. 'I can't do it,' he wailed again. 'I can't. I've never done this before. I don't know what to do.'

'You fucking idiot,' Brace yelled through gritted teeth. With a snarl of frustration he pushed himself out of his seat, the chair tipping over behind him, and flew at Mulder, pointing the gun with one hand, his other raised in a tight fist. Mulder cried out in fear, instinctively ducking and raising his cuffed hands protectively in front of his face. Brace made as if to thump him, but then stopped abruptly, pulling back his fist and allowing his bunched fingers to fall loosely to his side. With the gun still cocked in his right hand he absorbed the sight before him: Mulder cowering pitifully against the bed, his shoulders hunched in fear, his limbs trembling, and suddenly Brace's anger evaporated. Instead of striking out against Mulder he laid a comforting hand on his arm. 'Hey, it's okay,' he said gruffly. 'I ain't gonna hurt ya, not unless you do somethin' stupid.' He saw confusion in Mulder's expressive eyes and in order to reassert his authority he pressed the barrel of the gun roughly into his ribs. 'Stand up,' he ordered.

Mulder glanced fearfully at Brace, bewildered by his erratic behaviour but nevertheless he obeyed, slowly pulling himself up to stand rigidly, his heart still galloping and his eyes darting nervously about the room from one object to the next as he waited anxiously for Brace to make his next move. 

Suddenly, surprisingly, Mulder felt a warm hand gently snaking its way around his waist, the smooth fingers sliding seductively down over his taut stomach muscles, then teasing a tantalising trail down through his pubic hair. At first he shuddered, repulsed by the touch, the hairs on the back of his neck bristling with outrage, but then he sharply sucked in his breath as he felt Brace's hand glide down under his testicles, cradling them, then stroking them tenderly. He found he could barely breathe. There was a rushing noise in his ears and his heart thudded against his ribs.

'You like that, huh?' Brace hissed throatily in his ear. 'Do ya, baby?' Mulder whimpered as he felt the hand gently squeezing his testicles and he closed his eyes, a low moan escaping from his lips. Brace's thumb pressed firmly against the base of his penis and he held his breath, letting out tiny gasps as Brace's practised fingers slid delicately upwards and began to massage his erection, stroking it, caressing it, and gently teasing it to its full length.

'How's that feel?' Brace whispered, his hand encircling the thick girth of Mulder's erection and slowly travelling up its shaft. 'You like that baby, huh?' He felt Mulder sag a little in his grip and pushed the gun harder against his ribs, forcing him to stand upright. The two conflicting sensations fought simultaneously for Mulder's attention - the cold metal of the gun as it was shoved painfully into his side vying with the hateful pleasure of Brace's warm hands on his penis, deftly stroking and pulling, his touch firm and yet at the same time surprisingly gentle. He knew he really shouldn't be enjoying the contact, but Brace's hand was so skilful, so insistent, he couldn't help himself.

Brace tenderly encircled the heat of Mulder's stiff cock with his fist, delighting in the way its rigid length strained against his hand, then he began to squeeze it, sliding his thumb over the slippery lubricant and stroking with supple fingers over the sensitive head. Mulder moaned deeply and leaned backwards against Brace, his eyelids fluttering as he allowed the delicious sensations between his legs to completely override everything else. He desperately tried to remind himself that this was Brace touching him, a convicted rapist and murderer, his rapist, but his rational thoughts were easily crushed by his long suppressed desires. Whimpering under his breath, Mulder thrust his hips forward, wanting his rampant cock to slide hard against Brace's hand, needing the hand to grip him ever more tightly.

Brace, flattered by Mulder's reactions to his ministrations, pulled him closer, and Mulder then felt the iron heat of Brace's own erection behind him as Brace's lips brushed delicately against the base of his shoulder.

'Oh Fox, you want me, don't you?' Brace moaned softly. He gently suckled the soft white skin of Mulder's neck, convinced now that the blazing heat of desire he felt for this man was at long last to be reciprocated. Mulder swallowed hard, his eyes beginning to glaze over and his mouth sagging open a little as he surrendered to his instincts and desires. 'You do, Fox,' Brace insisted, pausing to swirl his tongue in Mulder's ear, sending shivers down his spine. 'You want to feel my dick sliding deep into you, don't you? Fucking you, fucking your ass.' Mulder, breathing heavily now, could feel Brace pressing his meaty erection against him, sliding it between his cheeks, and he instinctively pushed back, moaning under his breath, parting his thighs invitingly and shuffling his feet a little further apart.

'Bend over, baby,' Brace instructed and Mulder, suddenly swept away on a rising tide of desire, found himself bending forwards obediently, almost eagerly, resting his forearms against the bed, his hands clasped in an attempt to ease the pressure of the sharp metal cuffs as they dug into his wrists. He moaned again as he felt the heat of Brace's stiff cock slide between his cheeks then come to rest snugly against his anus.

'I know you want me, baby,' Brace whispered urgently, smoothing his hands down over Mulder's sharp hipbones and quivering thighs. He then slid his palms over Mulder's firm buttocks and used his thumbs to prise the muscular cheeks apart. 'You need to feel my cock moving deep in your ass, don't you, Fox?' he breathed. He began to push and Mulder groaned as he felt his anus stretching. He felt a slight burning sensation followed by a brief bite of pain, and then a delicious feeling of fullness as Brace shoved carefully forwards, opening his ass, slowly filling him with the stiff heat of his throbbing cock.

'Is it good, Fox?' Brace panted. 'Do you want me to fuck you?' Mulder gasped as Brace pushed harder, slipping another inch into his rectum. 'Do you, boy?' 

'Yes,' he admitted, the single word uttered only as a breathless whisper.

'Yes what? What is it that you want me to do?' Brace whispered, looking down and thrilling to the sight of his cock buried in Mulder's tight anus, the head now completely inside the moist, hot darkness. He gritted his teeth as he slowly fed Mulder another inch. 'Yes what, Fox?'

'I - I want you to fuck me,' Mulder moaned breathlessly, then grunted loudly as Brace pushed hard into him, filling his rectum completely.

Brace grinned broadly over Mulder's shoulder but Skinner, straining his ears through the fog of his pain, listened in disbelief. 'My God,' he thought incredulously, his skin crawling, his stomach churning nauseously. 'Brace isn't raping Mulder - he's ... making love to him. And Mulder ... he wants him to.' He shut his eyes tightly, hardly daring to breathe, utterly repulsed by Mulder's grunts and moans and Brace's harsh panting.

'You want me to make you come, Fox?' Brace asked, driving his cock home once more and smoothing his hands over the taut muscles of Mulder's buttocks and thighs. 'You want me to fuck you hard, baby?'

'Ye - es,' Mulder grunted, the word split by an extra deep thrust.

Brace laughed to himself. 'Ohhhh,' he thought blissfully. 'The sweet pleasure of power!' 

He stroked Mulder's back tenderly. 'Sorry, baby, not yet,' he whispered huskily, slowly withdrawing his cock from Mulder's ass. 'I'm sorry, but Walter gets another turn first. And you're the one who's going to give it to him.' Mulder made a mewing sound deep in his throat in protest as Brace's thick heat slid out of him, and he felt Brace's knees pushing firmly into him from behind, forcing him back into a kneeling position on the bed behind Skinner. 

Skinner had been listening throughout, unable to believe what was happening. His hand throbbed unbearably and he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his back every time he attempted even the tiniest movement. Wincing with pain, he guessed miserably that Brace's comment about him pissing blood had been no exaggeration. He was suddenly terribly afraid. It no longer seemed a shared ordeal, his and Mulder's, and he had never felt so alone. 

'Get up on your knees, Walter,' Brace ordered. Mulder watched with pity as Skinner struggled to support himself, remembering how he'd felt when Brace had issued that order to him, and he was torn between hatred for Brace and hated desire for him. Despite his agonising pain, Skinner managed to obey, pushing himself up as best he could, resting his weight on his elbows as he anxiously tried to protect his injured hand. 

Brace's fingers were again playing lightly over Mulder's cock, teasing it, stroking it, sliding his hand up and down its length and, under his expert touch, it once again grew long and rigid. Once he was completely satisfied with the size and feel of Mulder's erection, Brace pushed him forward, guiding him in towards Skinner's open ass. 'That ought to do it, baby,' he whispered into Mulder's ear. 'C'mon, let's see you fuck him.' He rubbed Mulder's swollen cock-head gently up and down Skinner's crack then positioned it carefully against his anus. 'Push now,' he instructed. With his wrists still handcuffed and resting on Skinner's back, Mulder obediently pushed his hips forward and found himself beginning to penetrate Skinner's tight hole. But then he heard Skinner gasp loudly in pain and pulled back in sudden panic.

'Don't stop, Fox,' Brace commanded. 'Keep pushing.' 

'Please don't hurt me, Mulder,' groaned Skinner as he felt Mulder's erection digging into him once more. Desperately trying to be gentle, Mulder nevertheless continued to press his hips forward. He felt Skinner's muscles resisting his entry, heard him sharply cry out again, this time as though the pain was more severe, and he held still, caught between the terror of hurting Skinner and the sudden urge he felt to push quickly through the tight rings of muscle and into the deep squeezing heat. 

After a few seconds and an impatient snort from Brace, he again began to apply more pressure, pushing his hips gently forward. Skinner cried out sharply and, at that precise moment, Mulder felt something give way within Skinner's tight anus. Suddenly the head of his cock slid completely inside and he pushed steadily, surprised now at how easily he could slide forward. 

Within another minute, Mulder had buried his cock so deeply in Skinner's rectum that he felt his balls squash up against the older man's muscular buttocks. And Oh God, it felt so damn good, so unbelievably good, so much so that he had to bite down hard on his lip to stifle an ecstatic moan. Skinner's rectum was hot and slippery and oh, so tight and he could now feel those muscular rings gripping the length of his cock like a velvet-covered hand. He withdrew a little, then pushed forward gently, still in no way wanting to hurt Skinner, yet compelled by an overwhelming urge to thrust hard into the delicious hot silkiness of his boss's rectum. He groaned and thrust a little harder, hating himself, hating Brace for making him do this, but loving the hot squeeze on his cock, the fiery ache in his balls. He closed his eyes, concentrating on the pleasure, trying to ignore his twisted emotions.

'G - go easy, Mulder,' Skinner begged. 'Not too hard. My - my back, you're hurting me.' The hoarse gasping broke Mulder's concentration and he opened his eyes, looking down at the man beneath him, suddenly shocked back to reality. He stared down between his legs, repulsed and yet wholly fascinated to see his cock, stiff and hard and huge, sliding effortlessly in and out of Skinner's rectum with each new thrust of his hips. More than anything else though, the view excited him and he rammed his cock in even harder, making Skinner squeal in pain. 

'Way to go, Fox,' Brace laughed as he watched closely, his face lit up with joy. 'You fuck that baby good, boy.' He grinned broadly, delighted when Mulder let out a long low moan as he buried his cock deeply in Skinner's ass once more. 'Feels great, doesn't it, boy? You wanna fuck that ass harder and harder, don't you, eh? I know you do. Oh yeah, that's a good boy. You're a natural. Keep fucking that ass, man, oh yeah. That's cool.' 

Seeing Mulder's body glistening with sweat and his bare ass pumping gave Brace an almighty erection, and he grinned from ear to ear. He moved closer to the humping buttocks of the two men, and Mulder suddenly faltered mid-thrust as he felt the heat of Brace's hand sliding between his thighs, slippery lubricated fingers mapping a tender trail up towards his balls, the smooth fingers stealing their way towards his anus, stroking, circling, probing. 

'Don't stop, boy,' he heard the husky voice mutter behind him. 'Keep pumping him. Fuck him hard.' Obediently he slipped back into his former rhythm, twisting his wrists within their tight cuffs and pressing his palms down into the small of Skinner's back, trying to relieve the ache in his arms as well as get a better grip. 

'Mulder!' Skinner cried out as Mulder shifted his weight and the handcuffs dug into his bruised flesh, 'Mulder ... Mulder, you're hurting me. Mulder!' 

Mulder heard Skinner calling out his name, felt him trying to roll his hips to alleviate the pressure of the weight on his back, but he wilfully ignored him, now driven by the compulsive need to thrust himself harder and harder into Skinner's tight, slick passage. He grunted with pleasure as he felt Brace's fingers slide down his crease and press into the heat of his own rectum. As he pushed his hips forward his cock slid deep into Skinner's rectum and when he pulled back he effectively pressed his own ass down hard on to Brace's rigid fingers. Backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards he rocked, the two conflicting but intensely pleasurable sensations fighting for his attention; his cock was plunging over and over again into Skinner's hot silky ass, whilst alternately his own asshole clamped down hard on to Brace's slippery fingers. He closed his eyes, his face contorted with pleasure as he continued to thrust hard and deep into the delicious heat of Skinner's rectum.

Skinner didn't think he could take much more. Mulder's thrusts were hard and deep; sharp, piercing lunges which threatened to split him in two. 'Mulder,' he gasped out, winded as Mulder's weight pounded painfully against his back with each driving thrust. 'Mulder, you're - you're really hurting me, please Mulder!'

'Shut up,' Mulder snapped at him, suddenly irritated by Skinner's whining and whinging. He began to pump his hips faster, swept away on a blind tide of greed and angry desire, drilling himself deeper as he felt his orgasm approaching, wanting it, driven by it, determined now to have it whatever the cost. 

Sensing Mulder was close Brace, in turn, pushed his fingers deeper into the younger man's rectum and curved his fingers upwards, seeking the small nub of his prostate gland and on finding it, began to massage it with firm downward strokes. It didn't take long before he was rewarded by Mulder's cries as he thrust his cock into Skinner's ass, slamming and slamming as his orgasm tore through him and he exploded into Skinner's bowels.

'Oh fuck, ohhhh, oh Jesus,' Mulder cried, still pumping his hips and slamming himself into Skinner, ignoring Skinner's agonised cries of pain. 

'That's it, boy,' Brace encouraged, his fingers still deeply embedded in Mulder's ass. 'Keep fucking that ass, fuck it good now. That's right. Give him all you've got. Let him have it all, Fox. Give it up, baby!'

At last Mulder's hips slowed to a standstill and with a deep groan, he collapsed forward onto the man beneath him. He knelt there as Brace's fingers slithered out of him, panting, leaning his head against Skinner's back, his limbs trembling after his exertions. After a few moments Skinner's knees finally gave way and he crashed down on to the bed, Mulder's weight slamming painfully against his injured back as he fell. His mind was reeling, unable to fully comprehend what had just happened. 

'Mulder,' he groaned, his bruised kidneys crushed by the weight of the exhausted man slumped heavily on top of him. 'Get off me, you're hurting me.'

With an effort that tortured his own screaming muscles, Mulder pushed himself up then withdrew his cock from Skinner's ass and rolled off him and over onto his back. He lay there, exhausted, his arms stretched out on the mattress above his head with his eyes closed and his breath ragged, suddenly shocked at what he had done but nevertheless enjoying the warm glow that radiated throughout his body.

'He made me do it,' he told himself as he lay there panting heavily, feeling his heart thudding in his chest. 'I didn't want to, he made me.' But even as he formed the thoughts in his mind he dismissed them as a lie. He watched warily as his captor moved around the bed and came to stand where his own feet dangled over the edge of the mattress.

'My turn, baby,' came Brace's gravely voice, thick with desire. He made a grab for Mulder's ankles with his meaty hands, yanking his long legs apart and forcing them backwards and upwards. Mulder experienced a sudden rushing terror as the vivid memory flashed into his mind: lying on his back, chained to Scully's bed, his knees forced apart and Brace lying heavily between his thighs, stabbing agonisingly into his rectum.

'No!' he protested, trying to pull his legs back together in panic. 'No, you'll hurt me.'

But Brace shook his head. 'Daddy won't hurt you, baby,' he soothed, firmly pushing Mulder's thighs apart. 'Don't worry, honey. Daddy won't hurt his little boy.' 

Brace bent down and began to lap delicately at Mulder's testicles, sniggering to himself when Mulder jumped at the contact as though an electric spark had passed between them. 'Mmmm, baby,' he murmured, still holding Mulder's knees firmly apart. 'You taste so good.' He planted gentle kisses all around the base of Mulder's penis, pausing to glance up at Mulder's face. 'How soon can you get hard, do you think? Hmmm? Want me to see if I can make you hard again, baby?' Without waiting for an answer, Brace slowly slid his tongue along the length of Mulder's still-limp penis. 'Why, Fox,' he observed, 'you're trembling. Poor baby.'

Again he began to suckle Mulder's testicles, teasing them gently. He carefully licked his way up Mulder's growing erection, delighting in the way the shaft slowly stiffened between his wet lips and spurred on by the soft whimpers emanating from Mulder's throat. He slid his mouth up to the head of Mulder's cock and flicked his tongue tantalisingly over its surface and into the tiny slit, waggling his tongue backwards and forwards.

Mulder gasped and involuntarily bucked his hips upwards, pushing his cock up hard up into Brace's mouth. A fleeting image flashed into his mind - Scully, her lips sealed around his cock, her red hair bobbing as she sucked him, but he angrily pushed the picture from his mind; she didn't deserve to be a part of this. He moaned aloud suddenly as Brace's hot, wet mouth enveloped his now straining cock and began to suck him hard. He lifted his hips, not really wanting to but unable to help himself, jerking his pulsating cock up into the moist sucking heat of Brace's eager mouth.

'Hey, hey, not so fast, boy,' Brace laughed, pulling back and wiping the spittle from his lips with the back of his hand. 'Didn't take you long to stiffen up,' he grinned, nodding at Mulder's rigid cock. He took it into his hand and began to massage it gently between his fingers, watching Mulder's eyes as they stared warily into his own. Again Brace was suddenly struck by the beauty and total vulnerability of his hated enemy and suddenly he was dipping his face down, desperate to kiss that full, expressive mouth. Mulder tried to turn away as Brace's mouth mashed down on his own and gagged as the wet tongue pushed its way forcefully between his lips. He struggled against the kiss, his eyes wild, his tongue trying to repel Brace's, but then Brace leaned back and his warning hand came slapping down hard across Mulder's left cheekbone. He was momentarily stunned and as the pain exploded in his face and bright stars danced above him, his mouth slackened, allowing Brace to probe him once more, the older man's tongue forcefully tangling with his own, exploring his mouth, sucking him, then finally biting his lips gently.

Brace pulled back slightly and studied Mulder's face. 'Be a good boy, Fox,' he chided resentfully, gently caressing the angry red mark already forming on Mulder's cheek. 'I don't wanna have to hurt you, so you be good to me now.' He slid his hand downwards, fingernails trailing over Mulder's chin and scratching through his dark stubble, then delicately sliding down over his exposed throat. Brace's hand continued its journey, toying with Mulder's chest hair for a few moments before lazily flicking and twisting his nipples. Then, as if unable to rein in his desire any longer, he was quickly sliding his body between Mulder's open thighs and pressing his weight down hard against the taut belly. He placed his mouth on Mulder's throat, kissing, licking, and gently nipping, then with his left hand he gripped Mulder's cuffed wrists tightly, restraining them against the mattress above his head. He spat on the first two fingers of his right hand then reached down and coated Mulder's anus with the frothy saliva before excitedly guiding his own erection into Mulder's rectum. Mulder felt the thick hardness of Brace's cock once more pushing between his cheeks and he tensed, holding his breath, closing his eyes tightly in fearful anticipation of pain. But he only felt a slight bite in his anus as Brace's cock invaded him and slowly forced its way inside him.

'That doesn't hurt, does it?' Brace whispered tenderly, pressing his hips forward, slowly stretching Mulder's anus and gently poking his way deeper and deeper into his rectum.

'No,' Mulder admitted, opening his eyes and staring up at the face hovering above him. He swallowed hard, carefully watching Brace's expression, still afraid of the bright-eyed fervour he could see glowing there, but oh, God, the pleasure he felt at having the man's cock fill his ass once again. His own cock was stiff and straining, and it rubbed hard against his belly as Brace rocked on top of him. He was vaguely aware of the fact that Skinner was still lying beside them, that he would be able to hear every grunt, every groan, would feel every movement of Brace thrusting and rocking on top of him. But despite that he still thrilled to the slick heat of Brace's cock as it repeatedly filled him.

'I want to please you, Fox,' Brace gasped as he thrust himself in and out. 'I want to please you like a lover would. I don't care what you did to me, I just wanna be with you baby, wanna make love to you.'

Mulder listened to Brace's words with alarm but immediately pushed them out of his mind, responding only to the pleasurable physical sensations by thrusting his hips up against Brace's. He was too immersed in the ecstatic pleasure of having his rectum full of hot hard cock to care very much about anything else at that particular moment.

'Lift your legs higher,' Brace instructed breathlessly. As Mulder obediently lifted his knees Brace grasped them and shucked the younger man's calves over his own shoulders. He then drove forward and Mulder gasped as the new angle afforded much deeper penetration. He pushed his hips upwards to meet Brace's hard thrusts, crying out as his prostate was alternately stroked and then pounded. Brace gripped Mulder's hips tightly, slamming into him.

'I remember what really turned you on the last time, boy,' he murmured, his breath hot in Mulder's ear. 'This, right?' He thrust into Mulder's anus hard and fast, then slowly, ever-so-slowly, dragged his cock out almost all the way before thrusting in hard again. He noted Mulder's expression and pleasurable grunts with great satisfaction. 'You like that, don't you baby,' he said, stroking Mulder's thighs tenderly. He thrust in hard again and Mulder nearly leapt out of his skin as Brace's cock struck his prostate. He stretched his head back, thrusting his hips up and groaning as Brace continued to thrust into him. He felt Brace's mouth ravaging his throat, licking, kissing, sucking, and biting.

'Love fucking you, baby,' he heard Brace's throaty voice whisper in his ear. 'Just love it ... my cock deep in your ass, fucking you, making you come, baby.' He began to thrust more deeply into Mulder's slick hole, groaning as he felt the tight silky grip of Mulder's ass stroking his cock ever nearer towards orgasm. His pounding grew faster, harder and he pushed a free hand under Mulder's buttocks, tightly grasping the ripe flesh and pulling Mulder's hips up to meet his own. His thrusting became frenzied, his cock flashing in and out, his hips grinding against Mulder's. He heard Mulder gasp then cry out in ecstasy, felt the man beneath him thrusting his body hard up against him, felt Mulder's legs wrapping themselves tightly around his waist, followed by the hot splash of his lover's sperm hitting his stomach and then with a low moan his own semen exploded out of him and he felt the tight contractions of Mulder's orgasm squeezing his cock, the muscular waves massaging the come out of him and pulling it deep into Mulder's delicious hot rectum. Eventually his movement slowed and he slumped heavily down onto Mulder.

'Oh, Fox,' he groaned. 'Fox, you're ass is the best. I swear I worship your fucking ass!' He grinned widely as he turned his head to see Skinner's eyes on him, dazed with pain, but clearly shocked by what he'd just witnessed. 

'What's the matter, baldy?' he grinned. 'Feeling jealous? Don't worry, you'll get some more later.' He turned back to Mulder and nuzzled his neck, before raining kisses down over his throat, chest and shoulders. 'You enjoy that fuck, baby?' he asked, smiling down at Mulder as he stood up from the bed. 'Over too soon, though, eh? Never mind, baby, we've got all night! I'm just gonna go prepare another of my little treats for ya, okay?' With that he picked up the pistol and disappeared into Skinner's bathroom.

Trembling a little now, Mulder rolled onto his side and was suddenly shocked to meet Skinner's gaze. The A.D. was staring at him accusingly with eyes that were misted with pain, but nevertheless contained a cold anger.

'I felt sorry you, Mulder,' he hissed. 'God, I was so wrong.' 

Mulder stared at him with hurt eyes but could think of absolutely nothing to say in his own defence. He turned his face away from Skinner's glare, staring up at the ceiling, biting his lip as his eyes slowly filled with tears. 

***

Scully hurried along the hallway towards A.D. Skinner's apartment, her heart fluttering anxiously. She'd become worried when she'd returned to Mulder's apartment later that evening and found it in darkness, and her fear had grown when she'd been unable to reach either Mulder or Skinner on their cell phones, especially as Skinner's home phone was constantly busy. Heading back to Skinner's apartment block she'd at first felt relieved to see Mulder's car in exactly the same spot he'd left it in earlier that afternoon, but then she'd suddenly felt uneasy. Something wasn't quite right.

She hesitated at Skinner's door, her finger hovering over the bell-push. 'Something's wrong,' she thought, suddenly overwhelmed by a strong sense of foreboding. She pushed with the palm of her hand against Skinner's door and wasn't at all surprised to find it opened easily. She entered cautiously, her gun held tightly in a two-handed grip. 'I'm either going to see something terrible, or I'm going to look a right idiot,' she thought to herself as she advanced silently into Skinner's lounge. When she came upon the housekeeper still slumped against the wall her heart began to thump wildly and she slowly rotated around the room before homing in on a muffled groan from Skinner's bedroom. 

She pressed her face to the crack in the door, wrinkling her nose as the stink of male sweat assaulted her nostrils, and then she saw Skinner lying naked on the bed. She was momentarily confused, but on seeing the chains and shackles her fears were confirmed. She raised her gun and moved swiftly into the room, swinging full circle in a practised arc, and having quickly established that there was no other person in the room besides the two of them she crossed quickly towards Skinner, wordlessly absorbing the sight of his nakedness, the blood stained pillow, the make-shift bandage around his hand and the assortment of chains and cuffs securing him to the bed. Glancing around the room she recognised Mulder's leather jacket which was lying heaped on the floor, and a further cursory examination of the scene flagged up what looked like Mulder's service weapon perched on the dresser. She approached Skinner and touched him lightly on the shoulder. He jumped nervously, twisting his head around in fear, then exclaimed, 'Scully!' in a hoarse whisper. His eyes closed briefly in relief but then snapped open once more, revealing a wild fear lurking beneath the usually calm stony mask of his face.

'Brace,' he croaked. 

'I know,' Scully whispered back. 'Is Mulder here?'. 

Skinner nodded. 'They went in there,' he told her, jerking his head in the direction of the bathroom. 'Be careful,' he warned. 'He's crazy.'

'I'll be right back,' she assured him before cautiously making her way to the bathroom and, with her gun at the ready, she pushed the door open a tiny crack. The small room was filled with swirling steam but she could clearly see Mulder facing her, standing in the shower cubicle with his wrists cuffed together and tied with rope to a pipe that ran the length of the ceiling above him. He was leaning forward, his forehead resting on the wet glass, and his eyes were closed against the pounding water that sprayed down over him from above. Brace was closely pressed up against him from behind, caressing his back and he seemed to Scully to be very gently soaping Mulder's wet body. Frowning, she continued to watch the two men, and a moment later she saw Brace's hand snake around Mulder's waist before dipping down and carefully beginning to soap his genitals.

'That good, baby?' she heard him ask, pressing his chin against Mulder's shoulder. 'Huh? You like the way I touch you, Fox?'

Scully's eyes searched the room, but she could see no sign of any weapon, at least not within Brace's reach. She was about to fling open the door and charge in when she suddenly noticed something else that was clearly visible, despite the condensation that ran in little streams down the shower glass - Mulder's penis was hugely erect. Brace had soaped it and was now sliding his hand slowly up and down its thick length, and Mulder was groaning, repeatedly thrusting his erection hard into Brace's hand. 

'Want me to fuck you again, baby?' Brace questioned. His voice was soft enough to suggest intimacy, but loud enough to be easily heard above the pounding of the water. Scully held her breath as she strained to overhear Mulder's answer and was shocked when he replied with one word that groaned deep in his throat. 

'Yes.'

Brace reached down and guided his cock between Mulder's cheeks, and she saw Mulder push back, spreading his legs to accommodate Brace's width. Brace quickly slid home and, finding Mulder's anus an easy conquest this time, began to thrust into him once more. Scully was unable to drag her eyes from her partner, who seemed to be more than enjoying the frantic coupling. He was pushing back against Brace's eager thrusting, emitting a deep grunt each time he was pitched forward by the eager lunge of Brace's hips and she could hear his obvious pleasure, despite the constant splash of the water as it cascaded over the naked bodies of the two men.

Scully watched in shocked fascination as the two male bodies jerked and rocked against one another. Brace clung to Mulder's hips and seemed to be ramming into him harder than ever, and yet Mulder's reaction foretold only pleasure. His head was thrown back, face tipped up to the gushing water, and he rocked his hips in time to Brace's fierce rutting, moaning as his cock glided in and out of Brace's tight fist. 

Scully continued to stare at the strangely erotic sight, listening to the moans and cries of ecstasy drifting through the steam, and the regular thump thump of flesh hitting glass. Clearly, above the water's splashing and gurgling, she could hear deep animalistic grunts and groans - the unmistakable sounds of two men having fierce and frantic sex and both thoroughly enjoying it. The two men were humping against each other wildly now, the water hitting their naked limbs and spraying everywhere and she watched open-mouthed as Mulder flailed against the walls of the shower cubicle, watched as his cock pumped itself within Brace's fisted grip. 

'You love it when I fuck you, don't you, baby?' Brace grunted as he thrust hard up into Mulder's rectum, and he steadied the younger man as he stumbled under the force, holding his hips tightly and pulling him back. 'Oh yes I know, you love this, Fox!' His thrusting grew faster, more frantic. 'Oh, your ass is so fucking hot, baby,' he cried.

Mulder, his face twisted in ecstasy, suddenly reared up and bucked his hips violently, panting and groaning and finally shouting out, 'Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah,' as the come exploded from his cock and splattered forcefully all over the shower glass in several spasmodic spurts. Brace continued to thrust up into him, but then he too was crying out, throwing his head back as he reached his own climax and jerked his hot fluid up into Mulder's bowels.

Scully waited impatiently, not wanting to embarrass Mulder but aware that she must act soon if she was going to be able to overpower Brace. Mulder's weight sagged, his wrists straining against the cuffs, and he groaned as Brace's cock slid out of his body, the water still raining down hard against his up-tipped face. As his head dropped down, Scully chose that moment to enter the room, throwing the door open and charging in. 'Federal Agent,' she yelled. 'Move away from Mulder, Brace, and get your hands up.'

Scully believed that as long as she lived she would never forget the look on Mulder's face when he lifted his head to see her standing there. He stared at her in open-mouthed, wild-eyed confusion. His expression communicated a tumult of emotions: relief, fear, anguish, guilt and heated humiliation, all mingling as one to create a mask she barely recognised as his face. Brace's expression was one initially of surprise, but then his heavy-lidded eyes hardened and a sneer stretched his mouth at the corners.

'Get out of the shower,' she ordered. Move it, NOW!' She stepped closer, her gun aimed directly at Brace's chest. 'I'm warning you, one wrong move and I'll blow you away.' She glanced at Mulder who now hung limply from his cuffed wrists, the water pouring down over him still. 'Mulder? Are you okay?' He didn't answer her, but only slumped in the spray of the shower, his head bowed and his chin touching his chest. Steam swirled around him, but despite the damp heat she saw that he was shivering.

'Of course he's okay,' Brace spat venomously at her. 'He's been having the time of his life, haven't you, Fox? Tell her, tell her Fox, how much you've enjoyed me fucking your ass, how I sucked your cock and how we both fucked the ass off Walter.' 

Mulder looked helplessly at Scully. 'Don't listen to him,' his eyes pleaded. But his cheeks burned with shame.

'Shut up, Brace!' Scully yelled. 'Move out of the shower.'

With a roar, Brace suddenly broke out of the cubicle, lunging for Scully and in an instant she fired. The bullet hit him squarely in the shoulder and he was thrown back against the shower glass, shattering it into a thousand glittering fragments. There was a shocked silence, the only sound being the constant patter of the water as it splashed down over Mulder's body and swished its way down the drain. 

Brace, blood splattered behind him and oozing from the wound in his shoulder, appeared to be unconscious but nevertheless Scully approached him with caution. She pulled her own handcuffs from her belt and snapped them quickly around Brace's wrists before attempting to locate his pulse. It was still beating steadily but he was definitely out cold. She then reached up into the shower and flicked the water off. Mulder just stood there shamefully, dripping wet, the water running in rivulets down over his body. She squeezed into the cubicle beside him and reached up, standing on tip-toes to unpick the knotted rope above him. Mulder felt her jacket brush against his bare skin and he shuddered. 

'Mulder, come on,' she said gently, once she'd freed him from the ropes, if not the steel cuffs. 'Watch the glass, I don't want you to cut yourself.' She reached for a blue bath towel from a chrome rack beside the shower and slid it around his waist. He allowed her to do it, but then just continued to stand there, swaying slightly, shivering violently now that the hot water no longer flowed over his body. 'Mulder, it's okay, come on.' She grasped his wrist and pulled him towards her and he stumbled against her, his strength suddenly gone.

'Scully, I ... I don't...' 

'Shh, Mulder, it's okay, it's okay.' She carefully guided him out of the steamy bathroom towards the bed and he grimaced at the sight of Skinner, still lying spread-eagled on his stomach. Scully lifted the upturned chair and pushed Mulder gently into it, then she grabbed a rumpled blanket from the floor and threw it around his shoulders. With a crushing sense of dejà vu she pulled out her cell phone, quickly punching in 911 and requesting an ambulance, as well as the local police. She then hurried over to Skinner and began freeing him from the tight bindings, chains and shackles. 

'Thank you,' he croaked, curling onto his side once she'd released him. He clutched his injured hand protectively to his chest, his face ashen, his eyes closed and his brow creased in pain. 

'It's okay, Sir,' she soothed, pulling the sheet up over his thighs with the intention of hiding his nakedness and restoring a little of his dignity. 'An ambulance will be here soon,' she promised, anxiously noting the large, pink-tinted urine stain which fanned out over the sheets where he'd lain for so long. He nodded gratefully, then closed his eyes.

Scully scanned the room for something to use as a lever on Mulder's handcuffs but then spied a bunch of tiny keys lying on the dresser. She snatched them up triumphantly, then leaned over Mulder, threading each of a series of minute silver keys into the chamber one by one. He offered his wrists up to her though he kept his head bowed, not wanting her to see the flush of shame on his face or the tears that burned in his eyes. At last there was a minute click and the lock popped open. She saw a large tear drop splash onto his naked thigh and she suddenly clasped him to her, pressing his head against her flat stomach. 'I'm so sorry, Mulder,' she whispered. He looked up at her then, his face white and wet with tears. 'It's over now,' she told him quietly, smoothing a stray lock of hair away from his face. 

He stared up at her blankly, at first not seeming to comprehend her words, but then he shook his head. 'It'll never be over,' he whispered. He stood shakily, then carefully pushed past her. Letting the damp towel and blanket fall to the floor, he grabbed his clothes which lay in a heap at the side of the bed and began to dress himself hurriedly. 

'Mulder, what are you doing?' she asked him gently. 'Please sit down, I think you're in shock. You need to slow down, take things easy.'

'I'm okay, Scully,' he lied, tugging his jeans on and shoving his feet into his shoes. 'I just gotta get out of here.' He coughed back a sob then let out a frustrated cry as he tried in vain to fasten shirt buttons too quickly with fingers that shook uncontrollably. 

'Mulder, please,' Scully reasoned, trying to keep her voice calm and even. 'You're shaking. Please sit down and wait for the paramedics.'

But he defiantly picked his jacket up and stuffed it under his arm then made as if to bolt for the door. She quickly side-stepped in front of him, blocking his exit. 'Mulder, where are you going? You have to stay here. You need to go to the hospital and the police will need to speak with you.'

He shook his head, unable to meet her beseeching eyes. 'I - I've got to go, Scully,' he told her. 'Please,' he begged. 'Just let me go.'

'Mulder, please, just sit down.'

'I can't stay here,' he wailed, sobbing hard now. He pressed a hand to his eyes, embarrassed by the flood of tears but unable to stop them.

'Mulder...'

'Please, Scully, just leave me alone.' He yanked the door open and roughly pushed past her, anxious to be gone before the police arrived and started asking their incessant questions. He knew he'd have to face them sooner or later, but he couldn't handle it right now. He broke into a run, his feet echoing with a dull ring in the empty hallway, and Scully stood in the doorway, her fists clenched, helplessly watching him go.

'Tell Skinner I'm sorry,' he called over his shoulder, still desperately trying to stifle his sobs behind his hands. 

'But Mulder...' she called. But then he was gone, leaving Scully standing alone in the deserted hallway.

  
To be continued...

(Tess, July 2000)


End file.
